Reach for the Stars
by heartachequisition
Summary: Now's not the time for denial. The seasons are changing and the boy's just got to embrace his emotions and let the girl know without making it too awkward. No problem, right? Too bad Shintaro's kind of really anti-social and his friends suck so much. ShinAya, side HaruTaka.
1. The First Year Lapse

As if they were tied in an impossible meeting of fate, the first time he really noticed her was on a bright spring morning - too bright for his eyes and too dusty for his nose and completely and utterly consumed by the monster that is hay fever - when she looked up and smiled at him, completely at peace.

"Hi there, you're Kisaragi, right? Kisaragi Shintaro?"

He nodded and sneezed but gave no further reply. His quota for socialising had been reached today, after arguing with his sister earlier and now bumping into this cheery classmate of his on the short path to school. He was officially done with the day before it had even started. Ugh, socialising.

"Ehe, this is the first time we've talked outside class, right? I'm Ayano!" She smiled but pulled at her red scarf a little nervously. "But you probably already knew that."

"What do you want?" He sighed exasperatedly, his nose itchy as hell. All Shintaro wanted to do was go inside and avoid people for the rest of the day. Especially sparkle-eyed sunshine over here who was blocking his way to education.

"I just thought I'd come speak to you!" She shot him a gentle, warm smile, "I know you're always alone, and it must get lonely, right?"

"Loneliness is not in my vocabulary." He quipped sarcastically, though his deadpan look was ruined by a loud sneeze. "Please leave me be."

Before the girl could open her mouth again, he walked onto the road and around her, heading through the gates of the boring old school he had known for years. Another day, another routine. The footsteps that echoed behind him irritated him to no end.

He rubbed his eyes as he plonked into his usual spot, graceful as always. Just another boring day in the life of Shintaro, right? Ugh.

A month later, he and Ayano were friends.

Or at least they were close to friends, the boy lamented, because he didn't actually_ need_ friends and he would be perfectly fine sitting on his own with his pretty perfect little test scores. Not that he was bragging or anything, but the tests were easy and he didn't have to try to score that high. But being called a genius is always helpful.

"Wow, you did so well! Congratulations!" The now all too familiar voice chirped from his left and he looked over at her, slightly miffed.

What he didn't expect was the quick, fleeting thought of 'oh hey, look, I never noticed how she's kinda pretty' to go flying through his head. Coughing to hide his internal shock, his eyes darted to her own paper and he almost did a double take.

Ayano had royally screwed up that test.

She laughed at his expression; it was inevitable he would find out eventually, so she didn't bother to hide it.

"Are you an idiot?" He blurted out, as smooth as can be.

"Not an idiot! Only... I threw out my desire to study.. and it got burned... with the rest of my rubbish?"

He rolled his eyes but reached over to pat her on the head. Her hair was soft and felt nice under his hands, oh no, that was not creepy at all.

"Good job. Even your comeback is stupid."

"Shintaro! Don't be mean!"

The boy only shrugged and decided it was his mission to be mean from then on out. Her expression was simply so.. hilariously adorable. Not that Ayano was adorable or anything. Because she's not. She's stupid.

For some reason or another, his nose was itching again and his face was a little red. Goddamn hay fever.

* * *

><p>When summer rolled around and the summer uniforms were in fashion, Shintaro had made more friends. His mother would be so proud.<p>

Haruka Kokonose and Takane Enomoto were an interesting pair; one of them being a full on eating machine that somehow always gets his way in the nicest method possible and the other being a crazy ass gamer that was often sleep-deprived and had a not so subtle crush on the former.

Ah, young love. Ayano thought it was delightful.

Did he mention that it was the very same Ayano that made them all friends in the first place? It wasn't his fault that he didn't understand Haruka and his fluffy hair and it sure as hell wasn't his fault that he couldn't get along with.. what was it.. Lightning Dancer Ene, pfft. The duo complemented each other well though, he had to agree with Ayano on that. In his head, he had so cruelly dubbed them 'the sick kids' though, so he couldn't really complain.

Shintaro supposed he was content as long as he got to sit silently with the trio everyday, with no-one trying to talk to him. His plan failed, of course. Friends were so annoying sometimes.

"Takane," Haruka shook the sleeping girl next to him, more a whine than anything too desperate. "Takane, help."

While the other two were preoccupied, Ayano giggled, tapping Shintaro on the shoulder and pointing something out to him. "Look."

He felt kinda idiotic for being happy to feel her touch over something so small. That girl was going to be his downfall, he was sure of it.

In the meantime, Takane sucked at acting. She may have closed her eyes - well, heck, anyone can do that - but her headphones weren't even plugged into anything with the cord just hanging out from under her. "Oi Enomoto." He called, in the most annoying voice he could muster. "Your headphone act isn't fooling anyo-"

Ayano slapped him with her scarf. "No, don't say it out loud!" She whispered harshly, but not unkindly. "Haruka doesn't know!"

"Takane, I have art block!" The aforementioned boy exclaimed, flopping down on top of Takane in an attempt to wake the crabby girl up. "Takane, can I eat your donut? Wake up, please? Home time is sleep time! Don't be a lazy butt!"

Shintaro watched on, unamused, as Ayano laughed and pulled the hair ties out of Takane's pigtails, causing the girl to sit up angrily and aggressively tie her hair back up before blushing brightly as she came nose to nose with Haruka.

"Yes, you can have the donut." She thrust the food item into his mouth.

He gave a muffled thanks and hugged the shorter girl and Ayano grinned as if the world belonged to her.

Shintaro was seriously doubting these people and their sanity now. Friends? What an odd word. He idly wondered if his sister had friends. Momo had gone on a summer trip with their father but she didn't invite any.. friends. Huh.

Despite it all, for the first time in his life he wished the summer would last forever. He had gotten Ayano's phone number before school parted for vacation, and he didn't have his little sister Momo raving for all the attention in their house anymore. Life was good.

Good. Summer was great. Shintaro loved summer.

* * *

><p>Autumn, or Fall, was when he fell really hard. His dad never returned with the distraught Momo after their trip, and without a fatherly figure in sight, Shintaro had absolutely no clue what was going on within him. Ironically, even the leaves that fell from trees had a softer landing than he - for Shintaro Kisaragi had realised like a bolt of lightning that he had completely fallen for Ayano Tateyama.<p>

It was sudden, quick and interestingly weird, and he thought it was probably just hormones and puberty being a bitch.

Yeah, that'd be it.

It's probably because Ayano was coincidentally the only girl his age that remotely interested him, and he really didn't like her all that much. Really.

No, but in reality, Shintaro was a genius so he just accepted the truth. He wasn't in love with her but he did love her. Ayano was his ... 'sparkle-eyed sunshine' at first sight, after all. Or he needed to interact with more females.

Takane didn't count because she sucked. She was also a brother-in-arms and with nothing to lose, he set off to ask her for advice.

'_Hey, I want to talk to you about something._' He had had to ask Haruka for Takane's number and it caused a series of awkward misunderstandings that were much too heavily misunderstood. Why he didn't go to the gamer girl in person, he didn't know himself. Oh yeah. Ugh, socialising.

'_WTF which hobo are you and where did you get my digits?_' Oh Takane. Eloquent as always.

Shintaro replied within a few seconds being the fast typer he was, '_It's Shintaro. Can we talk?_'

'_You mean text, dumbass? Yeah, shoot. How did you get my number?_'

'_So you know Ayano, right?_'

'_Screw you too. She's my best friend. Duh._' On receiving this message, the boy had to bite back a "no way, she's my best friend" because he didn't want good ol' pigtails ratting him out to Ayano. This was serious business.

'_Promise not to tell her about this conversation._' He sent with a scowl, sitting cross-legged on the floor of his room.

'_I make no promises, lover boy. To think you'd come to me for this is laughable, really._' Shintaro sputtered at this, awkwardly disrupting the silence of his house. Takane knew him too well because they were so undeniably similar and he was reminded of why he came to her in the first place.

'_I swear to god woman, shut your mouth or Haruka will know everything._'

Her reply came almost instantly; she was catching up to his typing speed already. Trust Takane. '_I'll cheat on him with Ayano. We'll break even, yeah?_'

'_Wait what- you're not even gonna deny it?_'

'_Nah man, he wouldn't believe you even if you told him. Heck, I've told him. He's as dumb as a rock._'

Even he had to pause for a moment to reflect on that. There was no way Haruka didn't know; Shintaro held some form of friendly respect towards his male friend and he couldn't help but think this was taking it too far.

'_... as if. As. If. Oh god, I bet Ayano is stupider than him._' Suddenly he felt more confident, if Takane could do it (and fail epically), then he could do it too, right? Never mind that this was a terrible idea. He was going to do it. A spontaneous confession.

With her psychic powers, Takane answered with a '_Is that a word? Let's not debate this ugh just go confess or smth, tell me how it goes down._'

Having support from the grouchy girl strengthened his resolve. '_Just stop talking to me ok._' He responded speedily before trying to locate Ayano's number in his contacts.

Sure, it wasn't like him, but how bad could it go? His stupid friends were rubbing optimism into his face. Unfortunately Shintaro lacked the guts to do it in person and went to do it via text. What? He never learnt the rules of confessing, and he thought Ayano couldn't possible misunderstand.

'_Hey Ayano?_' Good. Nothing too out there. He could stay in character and still do this thing.

'_Um..? This is Haruka! Are we playing a game? I can pretend to be Ayano, if you want...?_'

The boy groaned. Trust the genius to send it to the wrong person. Strike one.

'_Nevermind, we're_' He stopped in the middle of his message and backspaced, having had a second thought. '_Nah, it's all good. Takane wants to talk to you btw, She need your permission to marry Konoha or w/e your avatar dude is called._' Take that, Takane. Now they could both embarrass themselves.

He knew she'd come for him later but what are friends for? Right now, there were more pressing matters.

'_Ayano?_'

'_? Brother?_'

What... Momo?! He didn't even remember adding her to his contacts. Or her getting a phone. How old was she again? So much for paying attention. It was definitely rigged that Ayano was this hard to find in his grand total of five (lazy) unnamed contacts - his phone must've been derping on purpose. That, or the universe was conspiring against him. Strike two.

'_Don't worry. Wrong number, Momo._'

'_If you say so._'

Ah. He felt bad now. Maybe he'd grab some soda for Momo after school tomorrow. If he didn't die of embarrassment before then.

'_Please tell me this is Ayano._'

'_Shintaro! I gave you my number ages ago but you never ever thought to use it? What's up?_'

He found her.

'_Yeah, about that. Ayano, we're friends, right?_'

'_YOU ADMITTED IT. YES. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SHINTARO?_'

He couldn't resist grinning like an idiot. Ayano was so cute. Now to crack the big one.

'_What. I just wanted to ask if you wanted to be more than just friends._'

He sat still and silent in the middle of his room as he waited for a reply. Gosh, he felt like a teenage girl with a crush. Any teenage girl that wasn't Takane, that is.

'_More than friends? Like best friends? You might have to fight Takane for it, ahaha!_' The mental image of himself duelling Takane for Ayano's hand in marriage came to mind before he suddenly realised she didn't get it. She _didn't get it_. Biting his lip, he replied more hesitantly than before.

'_No, more than that._'

Her reply couldn't come fast enough just as his pain couldn't hit hard enough. '_So like lifelong mega best friends forever?_'

'_... what?_'

'_Oh! That's what my little brother Seto used to say to me...! Kids are so cute, right?_'

Would it be a bad time to say "I want to have kids with you"? Yeah, too far Shintaro, get it together. No. Bad, don't do that.

'_Sounds like my sister. Kids must all be the same._'

He chickened out. He couldn't do it.

'_Your sister must be adorable! We should arrange a play date for all our siblings one day, okay?_'

Shintaro decided that was all the heart pounding that was to happen during the time of falling leaves, so he left it at that.

"Ah, no.. soda is your favourite, not mine. You should have it."

What he also failed at doing was be a good big brother. He only hoped this was a phase and Momo would be all bright smiles, candy and clinginess again soon.

* * *

><p>Winter was cold. Shintaro was forever captain obvious in this aspect and all others but he had decided his time of moping was over and he needed to get out there and live life hoping Ayano would never discover his feelings. He had to be cold. Cold and cool. The new winter Shintaro was going to be so cool, he'd be frozen.<p>

He would also be stuck waiting after school for the object of his affection's safety.

Takane and Haruka had somehow become Ayano's overprotective parents during the winter, and they threatened him into walking the girl home every day. To be honest, Ayano was more worried about them and their health than her own, and so under a majority vote, everyone was given a role they were satisfied with.

It wasn't too bad, he thought, but upon his feeling realisation, he had never been as cool as he could be with the lively girl around.

Breaking his chain of thoughts was said girl as she came hurtling out of the building, scarf flailing wildly out behind her. "Sorry, sorry! Clean-up duty ran late because there was a mess in the hallways! I didn't forget this time!"

He hushed her with the end of her scarf and turned to walk out the school gates when the same scarf flew around his neck and pulled him backwards. Ayano smiled a little deviously.

"You're free now, right? Do you want to go shopping?"

"No."

At his short answer, she frowned, slipping her hand into his and dragging him towards the closest supermarket.

"It's just shopping for food!"

Shintaro watched as she broke into a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I'm cooking tonight, so I'll need some help deciding." Ayano muttered, starting to ramble, "Actually I might have to cook for the rest of the week too, so I'll have to think about that... and Kano's super picky with his food so that's a definite no for cauliflower and stuff... ahh, dad eats a lot too. Hmm..."

He squeezed her hand lightly. Maybe he could learn something from this experience. Like how nice of a wife Ayano would become for whoever marries her in the future. "I'll help you if I can. Tell me what you need, and I'll go get it."

She instantly brightened, letting go of his hand. "I've got a list! We can split it and look for things separately, alright?"

The boy nodded and took the piece of paper as she pulled it from her bag, neatly ripping it down the middle to split the list perfectly. Ayano smiled at this, and it seemed like a genuine smile, "You really are perfect at a lot of things, aren't you?"

"That's an exaggeration." He stated, glancing down at the sheep patterned paper.

"It's not!" She exclaimed, making eye contact before speeding off into the fresh produce section. "Meet you back here in 10! Love you!"

"Alright, love you too."

... wait. Wait. Hold on a second.

Shintaro ran a hand through his hair.

He did not just accidentally let the 'love' word slip.

No, no, he was reading way too much into this.

It's okay, it's okay.

Ayano meant it as best friends, right?

Right.

He could play it off as the same thing too, right?

Right.

... right?


	2. Spring Returns

**A/N:** Wow, okay, I didn't expect to actually get this chapter up at all since it was driving me up the wall but it's finally here, haha. Shintaro is an idiot, I'm sorry in advance. Hopefully you enjoy this, thank you so much for reading!

* * *

><p>Ayano skipped off in a fit of giggles after that brief exchange, elated beyond belief. Of course she wasn't that stupid, she knew what he had meant by more than friends but hey, he had spent so much time ignoring her and being mean to her she thought she might as well take this chance to get back at him. She wasn't a vengeful girl, but boy did embarrassing Shintaro sure give a kick. Maybe Takane was rubbing off on her.<p>

It was endearing how he still tried so hard, and she firmly believed when the right time came, she too could bravely confess her feelings in return. But for now, she would happily play dumb with Haruka playing dumber and they would enjoy these happy days without all the flowery romantics just yet.

Okay, the 'I love you' was a little bit much.

Since he had returned it though (pretty sure that was instinct and his brain not functioning properly at the time), she was going to remember this moment forever and bring it up at the most inappropriate time since he seemed so very angered with himself. He was so, so cute, and Ayano just wanted to cuddle him and pat him and keep him forever and ever.

But then again - Ayano still laughed as she collected the vegetables she needed - it was fun to watch the genius student struggle. It made him look like a real person, rather than some unobtainable, faraway creature. Ah, yes, Takane definitely was rubbing off on her.

A sudden idea struck her, though it did occur to her that this was a very bad idea.

Then again, who didn't want to see the Kisaragi Shintaro spectrum of wacky and happy emotions?

"Shintaro! Are you done yet? Oh no, that's too way many potatoes to carry home, silly!"

"What? Argh, but you! Yo-you didn't define how many potatoes you wanted!"

"Why do you have so many bananas?"

"Shut up! They were on sale…!"

Spring was fast approaching and this was perfect.

* * *

><p>Spring again, a whole year after he had first been approached by the ever-sparkly-sunny-not-adorable-but-actually-really-adorable Ayano, was another season of hell to his nose and eyes. His hay fever was the worst ever – Shintaro firmly believed he was a pollen magnet for flower torture – and Ayano seemed to be deliberately embarrassing him as if <em>she knew<em>.

"We're like an old married couple, haha… grocery shopping together again…"

"… a-as if I would marry you, idiot! I just have nothing better to do...!"

The incident last winter in the supermarket hadn't slipped his mind, for the love of god, he only wanted some peace of mind but the constant reminder of slipping 'I love you' into the conversation just absorbed him and all the boy wanted to do was tell Ayano he did love her and oh my god would she please notice already because this was painful. Absolutely painful. He was dying on the inside and on the outside; just dying, dying, ever so slowly.

He really hoped she didn't remember.

Or hear it, in the first place.

Yeah, that'd be absolutely perfect.

Further back into the past events, the marriage between Takane and Konoha went swimmingly – if by swimmingly, you meant Shintaro was literally thrown into the school pool by a fuming Takane. For a girl of her stature, she sure was strong when she got mad.

She vehemently denied ever wanting to marry the albino character despite Haruka going through all the effort to draw her in a wedding dress and Shintaro almost felt sorry for the boy until he joked that Ayano could marry Konoha in her stead.

'No, no, no, man, you don't understand, Ayano is mine.' That was his initial thought. 'You can't have her' came close after that.

He was full-blown falling headfirst, no harness, and no stage of denial could rescue him from his fall. Her blatant proclamation of them being nothing more than friends did nothing to slow his fall, and much to his dismay he only loved her more.

To make matters worse, she was also in love.

With you know, somebody else.

"I wonder if it's called love." Ayano had pondered aloud as they walked home together one day. "The feeling of wanting to be close to someone all the time… having your heart beat faster when they're around…"

"What else?" Shintaro had replied, intrigued but also pained to think she felt this way without him. It wasn't her fault, but it sometimes was easier to blame others. "Why the sudden thought?"

"Ah.. well… Shintaro, I think I might be in love."

His head practically snapped to look at her, "With who?"

"I can't tell you until you tell me who you like!"

"What, no! I don't ... like anyone! Tell me!"

"Nope, I can't!"

Then they had left it at that (but he had long convinced himself that there was a 0% chance it was himself anyway).

As for making other friends, as Ayano insisted he do, he opted for staying well out of every other person's way. Group project? No way. Party on the weekend? Hell to the no.

His reactions hadn't changed. Ugh, socialising. Pain. Death.

Which was coincidentally what he was doing right now.

"Um, you and Ayano aren't dating, right?" What was this guy's name again? Otoki? Osoki? Oh-man-I'm-really-annoying? Well, he was. And Shintaro did not have time for this right now.

"No, we are not."

"Cool…" Oto-what's-his-name had nodded, grinning down at the other boy who was scowling at his desk. What if this was who Ayano liked? Could he, as her best friend with not so platonic feelings, truly accept this?

"So you guys are close, right? Tell me, do you know what her type is?"

Wait, wait, wait. Back up here a second. No, no, he could not and he would not accept this.

"What?"

"Her type. You know, the type of guy she's into?"

No. Commence inner crying.

"Why? What's it to you?"

Ozuki-or-something backed away, hand raised, "Dude, no need to get defensive. Help another guy out, right? Tateyama's a cute girl! You can't have her all to yourself."

'Try me.' He thought, throat constricting and heart plummeting. 'Just try me.'

The annoying voice of the other male continued. "Besides, who would want to hang around you all the time anyway? You should be happy she's nice enough to care! Don't you value her at all?"

Suddenly Shintaro was feeling the urge to throw this guy out the window, but refrained because Ayano would have disapproved. The mere thought of her apprehensive frown threw all the irrational thoughts he had out the window instead.

Just as he was about to retort, his phone vibrated in his pocket and he ignored his blabbering classmate to check it.

'_Hey blockhead. We've got trouble.' _It was Takane.

It took him a few seconds to register; but before long he was dashing out of the classroom, headed towards the room where he knew Haruka and Takane would be waiting, stopping momentarily only to toss half-hearted apologies to those he bumped into along the way.

Takane was a prankster at times, but he wouldn't risk anything if she or any of the others were actually in trouble. The sickly duo caused way too many heart attacks for him to even think about.

Bursting into the room, he skidded to a stop; the room was empty. Quickly whipping out his phone, he typed a reply, _'Where are you?' _

The answer was instant, as if she had been waiting to send it.

'_Locked. In the sports cupboard, northern building. See if you can find Ayano first.' _

Of all the things he did for his friends, saving them from dark, locked – out of bounds, for the love of god Takane - spaces was not in the job description.

_'WHAT? I want an explanation when I save you, okay?'_

'_GO, YOU NERD'_

'_SHUT UP OR YOU STAY IN THERE'_

He hurried along, navigating the corridors as best he could – his years lacking heavy physical exercise weighing down on him as he ran, desperate to find a clue of what he was looking for. Every flash of red caught his eye; was that Ayano over there? No, too tall.

Over there? No, skirt was too short.

He had almost walked straight into the scene when he noticed her, chatting amiably with the school baseball team, he believed. Everything seemed rather normal, so Shintaro thought it was just about the right moment to go save Takane, when the most unexpected thing happened.

The captain of the baseball team produced a sleek acoustic guitar and began to serenade Ayano with the most poorly sung cover of 'What Makes You Beautiful' that he had ever heard. It was comedic how the rest of the team surrounded their captain waving their arms as if it was the most amazing thing when Ayano stood awkwardly in the middle of the crowd growing increasingly uncomfortable as the song went on.

Just when Shintaro was about to head over and rescue her from the humiliation, the baseball captain knelt down with a red rose. "Tateyama Ayano. Will you go to formal with me this year?"

Ahahahaha. Whaaaaat.

Shintaro had completely forgotten the spring formal even existed – any kind of socialising event he would steer right clear of, but he was beginning to wish he at least hurtled into this prepared to mend his own broken heart.

Of course this was the guy she loved. This was the guy everyone loved. What a jerk.

The captain of the baseball team may not have had his intellect, but he was mighty popular and rather attractive, so this was a chance not every girl would receive. See, this was why Shintaro hated people. People could take Ayano away from him, and he had no right to trample on her happiness, and if she made it to being the most popular girl in the school he wouldn't mind too much since she really did deserve it-

"I'm so… so very flattered, really I am. But I can't go with you, I'm really, really sorry…"

Now this. This had caught his attention.

The entire team seemed to slump, crestfallen at the loss of their captain's first choice in formal date, one of them even bursting into tears whereas the male himself seemed to smile with understanding. "That's okay. You like someone already, right? It happens."

"I'm glad…" Ayano smiled knowingly, patting his shoulder. "I hope you find someone like that who returns your feelings too. Good luck."

A true angel, that's what she was. Shintaro finally made his presence known to her, waving from just behind the baseball team to which she scurried up towards him and grinned.

"Good morning Shintaro!"

"Morning. What was with that weird-ass performance?"

She hit him lightly, "Shush, it was sweet!"

Haruka came padding up towards them as soon as they had re-entered the building, Shintaro briefing Ayano on the little she had missed that morning.

"Have any of you seen Takane?"

"She didn't text you?" Ayano and Shintaro exchanged a worried glance.

"My phone's dead." The artist sighed, waving the piece of equipment around as if it were nothing but a nuisance.

"She's gotten herself trapped in a sports cupboard." Shintaro sighed, "North building."

Haruka's expression grew concerned, "Oh no… that's not good…"

The boy left Ayano to fret over Haruka as he shot the stranded girl another text, _'You still in there, Takane? Not dead already, are you?'_

'_Come and get me, loser.'_ Takane, at least try and be nice.

"She's alone in there?" Haruka gasped, his smile faltering, "But… Takane, in that place she's…"

"She's what?"

The boy shook his head, "We have to go get her."

Sure enough, when they finally convinced the sports co-ordinator they didn't intend to steal from the storage cupboard, they found Takane curled in the corner, holding a softball to her chest.

"Took you guys long enough." She managed with a weak grin, glancing up through gaps in her hair. "I was worried you had dropped off the earth and vanished or something."

"Takane, what in the ever loving-" Shintaro had begun his sarcastic drawl only to be cut off by Ayano choking him with her scarf and Haruka who practically fell on top of Takane in an attempt to hug her ball-shaped form. She flinched, jumping a couple of feet into the air.

"Takane! You must have been scared…" He mumbled into her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Takane…"

The girl was now glowing red, pushing her affectionate classmate off of her.

"Who said I was scared?" She hissed, almost like a cat. Threatening, if only her face wasn't so flushed. "D-don't touch me!"

"But Takane! There's nothing wrong with being scared…!"

Shintaro resisted the urge to butt in with a taunt, remembering Haruka's words from before._ Takane, in that place she's… _

"I said _I wasn't scared_, Haruka!"

"Hahaha, okay!"

"Don't just agree so easily!" She threw the ball at him, knocking him over before screaming internally. "Oh my god, are you okay? You don't need to go to the nurse, right? Oh my god, Haruka, are you breathing?"

Ayano started to giggle at this though, and even Shintaro couldn't suppress his smirk. As serious as Takane was, seeing the short bumbling girl running in circles freaking out was pretty funny, he had to confess.

Haruka on the other hand seemed to smile mischievously, just for a split second, as he lifted his long sleeves to expose his wrists which had made contact with the ball. "If you kiss it, it'll make it better!" He laughed, innocently.

Takane's face reddened even further, "Wh-what the-?! No!"

"Then it's not okay," He dramatized, lying down on the ground with his hands over his head, "I feel faint…"

"Oh my god, oh my god! Don't you even-!" Takane's shrieking sent Ayano toppling over in peals of laughter, and she clung to Shintaro's arm for support. Shintaro supposed it was only a friendly action but his mind just wandered … off…

Ayano and himself walking down the beach, talking about how the world was made.

Stargazing together as she pointed out all the wrong constellations.

Walking in the rain, and watching her dance the way she does when she's happy.

His hand on her… whoa, whoa, whoa, no. No. No. No, no, no, no, no.

No.

No, no, no.

He seemed to like saying that word a lot lately.

Not going down that path today. Or ever.

Abort mission. Out. Goodbye world. Shintaro's mind is now headed to outer space.

Why does life not have any kind of instruction manual?

He seemed to have missed something when he was tugged back to earth, Ayano shoving him as they watched Takane grab Haruka's wrists roughly and place a kiss on each of them.

"Cuties!" She had whispered.

"Idiots." He had whispered back.

"There! Whatever!" She shouted, blushing like there was no tomorrow. "Heal!"

"I feel much better!" Haruka replied, sitting up with a bright smile. "Thank you, Takane!"

"Don't talk!" The girl bristled, pushing him back down. "And don't move so suddenly!"

The bell rung, Ayano and Shintaro waving at the other two as they headed back to the other side of campus for class. Ayano expressed her concern about them being late to class, but Takane mumbled something like, "Your stupid dad is always late to class anyway, even if he is our teacher for every subject."

Shintaro bowed to Haruka jokingly, as Ayano kept pulling him away. "I leave my daughter in your care."

The artist laughed happily, saluting his friend. "I'll take care of her, sir!"

Spring in general ran particularly long this year, the early months marking the beginning of their final school year – not theirs really, but Haruka and Takane's in a year just above them – and with that, the pressure began to rain down harder on Ayano that anyone else. Future career forms, subject selection, university entrance forms, all in preparation for their approaching last year… all of the things that Shintaro honestly had no problem with.

He basically had no future, choosing all the options that indicated no, he did not want to work at all and no, he did not want to go to university.

For appearances' sake, he applied for a few, but knew he would get in with his perfect scores anyway so anticipated turning them down.

Not bragging, just a fact.

The fact also stood that the one thing that occupied his mind practically all the time was the girl that sat beside him in the desk by the window and his now year-long best friend; Ayano Tateyama.

His year-long best friend that he liked, he reminded himself for the 50th time. That liked (loved, he cried internally) somebody else.

His year-long best friend that he liked that he was too scared to ask to formal.

And yes, he had to do it.

Just a couple of days ago, he had begrudgingly accepted a bet with his brother-in-arms Takane:

'_You get Ayano to be your formal date (not as friends ok don't cheat) and I call you master for the rest of your life' _

That was the gist of it. They had argued a little;

'_Sounds annoying, count me out.' _

'_She's gonna be snatched away from you man, get in there' _She knew his weaknesses, and this was the point he had been stressed over the most.

'_Leave me alone, you aren't even going'_

'_Look, dude at least ask. I'll ask Harukananana if you ask her and if we both fail, we can ragequit together, cool?'_

'_No.'_

'_I swear Kisaragi, all your embarrassing photos will be distributed online if you do not comply'_ A few seconds pause, then, _'Do it for me'_

But Takane was his friend as much as he hated to admit it, so he decided rather than risk the virtual embarrassment of _the NEET hero _(shut up, he made that username when he was 12) via the all-powerful _Lightning Dancer Ene_, he would swallow his pride and take it up like a man.

'_Fine. Challenge accepted.'_

So that's how he got himself in this situation. Part of him wished he was still in that anti-social bubble of please-don't-touch-me-I-hate-people, but his mother, bless her soul, was so ecstatic upon finding out her son had friends that he couldn't bring himself to disappoint her again.

Momo too, seemed to enjoy the company of Ayano when the girl came over to study, and was well-acquainted with Kido, Seto and Kano who seemed to enrol in the same middle school as her this year. Right now, they were all in the deviantArt phase – something that reminded Shintaro a whole lot of his own sheltered online past.

Moving on, he knew he had to ask her somehow, but he didn't think he could beat the baseball team's spontaneous band in the schoolyard, or the French transfer student sending her cute love notes for a week. The other day, Ayano walked home carrying a bouquet of _teddy bears _for goodness' sake, how could he top that? Just how many people were after this girl?

He thought he might as well have given up.

He also thought Ayano must've been the most _insane _girl to have turned down each and every invitation. This was not like her, she was polite, friendly and kind and he half-expected her to run back to each suitor and tell them she could go with them all.

She didn't, of course.

Was she waiting for one person in particular? The person she seemed to like so much?

"Formal's in a week." She smiled at him, breaking the silence as they headed once again to the supermarket.

"Who're you going with?" He asked, trying to act like he didn't care but his heart betrayed him and only beat faster.

She laughed airily, "Still no-one."

Shintaro shouldn't have been relieved, but… "You've been asked by so many people too." He picked up a basket, swinging it by his side.

"I feel really bad for turning them down, to be honest…"

"You're finally standing up for yourself, I see."

"You're so mean!" He grinned at her, patting her head as she tried to swat his hand away.

_Now is a good time_, piped inner Shintaro.

_Now is definitely not a good time_, rational Shintaro shot back. _You haven't thought this through yet._

_What's the worst that can happen? _Inner Shintaro argued. _You already expected her to turn you down, right?_

_Don't do it. Now is not a good time. _Rational Shintaro continued. _You'll screw it up._

Inner Shintaro won.

"Well, what about you? Don't tell me you're not going!" Ayano picked through a mound of oranges, flinging a couple into a bag and dropping them into his basket. "I won't let you ditch this year...!"

"Oh, I'm going." He popped a grape from the stand into his mouth, waiting for her to scold him for it. "On one condition."

"Shintaro!" The girl crossed her arms in mock anger, "Don't steal food! Okay, what's your condition?"

"You help me find a formal date."

"You want me to help you find…?" Her brown eyes had widened; a look of confusion then a tiny smile. "S-sure, what type of person did you have in mind?"

"Someone…" His voice wavered, the bright lights in her eyes distracting him. "Really smart."

Uh, whoops.

Did he say 'really smart'? Okay, no, no, shit he actually screwed up.

That did not come out the way he had wanted it to.

Was it too late to ask to re-do that scene again?


	3. Spring Continues

**A/N: **Wow... this came out a lot quicker than I expected... I just sped-wrote over the Easter weekend because all the Kagerou Project emotions came running at me full throttle. Oh no, Shintaro, stop this madness /o\ Episode two of Mekakucity Actors took a while for me to wrap my head around but aah... I really love Momo.

Ah yeah, and to everyone who has reviewed so far (**Mugi-pyon, Angel-of-Anime1, that person, StaticeKagerou, Kazashi-4, KidTantei, ilikepuns, Encendrel, MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan and I Tried To Judge But Failed**), I really do love you with all my heart, thank you! Some may have heard I'm a skittish writer, so every bit of support helps me gain the confidence to sit down and write! Thank you again!

* * *

><p>"I think Minami has an overall average score of 95%, how about her?"<p>

"Nah." She's not you.

"Mm, what about Takagi? I heard she got 98% in her last few English tests."

"Nah." She's still not you.

"Shintaro, you're not even helping! At least tell me why you're not considering them!"

"Nah." They're not _you._

Okay, in retrospect he should have seen it coming. Ayano's face had betrayed none of her emotions when he had spoken the words, but he knew they probably hurt a little – not because it meant he couldn't go with her, but because he had jabbed his best friend in the face by calling her stupid. Unintentionally or not.

She seemed really determined to make him go though, listing pretty much every girl in every class that she could think of, and he shot each of her suggestions down without a second thought. With reasons, of course, but reasons he didn't care to enlighten her with. Maybe he really was an imbecile.

"What, so you want to take Takane?" She finally concluded, having run out of other options.

"W-wh- she's not even smart, what the hell?!"

"So Takane, then?"

"No!"

Ayano seemed to smile but didn't reply, sorting through some tomatoes to put in her basket. During this, Shintaro's thoughts wandered off again.

Ayano was beautiful, and her hair was really pretty today. Did it always look like this? Probably, he just didn't notice. _Irrelevant_, inner Shintaro told him. _Focus_. Then the reality of the situation came back to him again.

Trust his pride to not let him tell her he only wanted to go with Ayano and nobody else. Now she thought he was after Takane, of all people, which he absolutely was not. She at least had to know that.

"There is someone." He spoke up, carefully as if approaching a wild animal. "That I want to go with."

Ayano opened her mouth, but he cut her off quickly, "Not Takane."

"You mean someone I haven't mentioned?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes."

There was a brief span of silence as the girl studied his face. "Are you going to tell me who this is…?"

"What?"

"You wanted me to help you find a partner, right? If you've already got someone in mind, then we just have to figure out how to ask her!" She blinked at him innocently; waving a tomato at his face like it was obvious. "And see if she's going with anybody already…"

Oh. "She's not." Shintaro remained frozen on the spot. Was that too straightforward? Did she realise it already? The brunette didn't seem to notice as she pulled him along the aisle. Shintaro moved to question it but dropped it as it soon became apparent his feet weren't going to take him anywhere on their own.

"Then there's no problem!" She chirped cheerily, stopping in front of the fridge to grab milk. "Really, who is it? You're the one who wanted me to help you in the first place!"

You. It's you. The words wouldn't connect with his mouth, though he felt his face turning as red as the tomato she was holding just seconds earlier.

"Never mind." He sighed in exasperation. "Don't worry about it."

From that day, they had a week to go.

* * *

><p>It was actually a disaster when formal night had officially arrived; he and Takane had both reassured each other that yes, they did in fact ask and yes they were going with the ones they held so dear but the thing was … he… wasn't. Shintaro had never quite gotten around to asking Ayano even during the last days leading up to this night and now that was beginning to dawn on him as a less-than-shocking revelation.<p>

What was he going to do now?

'Really smart', he had chided himself. Guess who's 'really smart' now?

As luck would have it Ayano had appeared at his house hours before the event itself, having known well that he didn't have a 'really smart' date but 'so help me, you're going anyway I don't care' and now she insisted that they show up in matching outfits – you know, just for the sake of it. Because you never got that 'really smart' date, yeah his best friend really liked to rub it in. Shintaro had all but collapsed on his bed in shame. His screw-up was coming back to haunt him and he vowed never to leave the house again.

Oh. My. God. Did she say matching outfits?

Scratch that last thought.

She really didn't know what this did to him, did she?

And everyone would assume they were together… ah, but how he wished that were the truth…

Shintaro had also forgotten about his sister during this time and that was a very wrong move on his part. Momo had heard what was going on and instantly called some professionals in to do them up a bit, and Shintaro was finally feeling real torture in the hands of multiple makeup artists and hairstylists who argued over his new look for the night.

"Red!" Ayano had yelled from Momo's room, Shintaro's sister practically forcing them to get ready in separate rooms. It's not like they were getting married or anything, gosh. Though that would be nice. "It has to go with red!"

"Fuchsia, darling." A stylist had commented curtly, patting powder onto the boy's scowling face. "Or a blood orange."

"Perhaps a violet would accentuate his dull features." Another stylist added. "Or some kind of burgundy."

"Hair first! Hair always first!" The hair professional exclaimed, brandishing a pair of glinting scissors. Scary. "Let's tidy up this mess a little."

Shintaro groaned outwardly this time, not caring if it seemed rude in the slightest. The next few hours were going to feel like a century. He was doing all this work for that one girl, he lamented, so she better be super grateful once this was over.

He only hoped he could convince Ayano to pretend to be with him at least enough to persuade Takane into calling off the bet.

He could only hope.

* * *

><p>"What am I going to do?!"<p>

Takane was a living, breathing, panicking mess. She had told him, like literally told Shintaro in plain words over the phone a few minutes ago that yes she was going and everything was going according to plan. Nope. Nope, everything was definitely not going to plan. There wasn't even a plan, so to speak.

Well, you know what, screw it all! What could she really do? She hadn't even brought up the subject with Haruka, let alone asked him and like hell were they going together now – she wasn't ready, nope, not at all, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"I can't ask him now." She mumbled into her pillow. "Is he even going? Maybe I can walk in and wing it… unless he's already got a date..?"

She kicked her blankets for a bit, muttering to herself. "Maybe I should tell Shin I can't make it. Say I'm sick or whatever… make something up, ugh."

A bright bell-like sound rang from her laptop and cut through her thoughts, signalling a Skype message.

[4:19:29 PM] hahahaharuka: Ah, Takane, are you online?

The girl reached her laptop and hesitated. Well, this was rare. Haruka almost never chatted to her online, claiming the experience was a little boring compared to real life conversation.

[4:20:14 PM] tataratakane: yeah why

[4:20:24 PM] hahahaharuka: Is there the thing for school tonight?

Takane narrowed her eyes. At least she knew Haruka wasn't prepared either. She waited for him to finish typing, the message screen testing her patience. God, Haruka was either multitasking or typing really slow.

[4:21:11 PM] hahahaharuka: I totally forgot about it wow hahaha

[4:21:17 PM] hahahaharuka: we didn't even go last year

[4:21:21 PM] hahahaharuka: well I didn't

[4:21:25 PM] tataratakane: so you gonna ditch?

[4:21:36 PM] hahahaharuka: I want to go

She raised her eyebrows at this. For the time she's known the boy he never seemed at all interested in -

[4:21:42 PM] hahahaharuka: for the food!

Oh, of course. The food. Takane highly considered leaving the boy to fend for himself but she thought rationally for once and figured she could still win against Shintaro at this rate if she could get Haruka to play along as her date for just a part of the night. Or just you know, actually go with her. That would be a victory within itself.

[4:21:53 PM] tataratakane: fine whatever.

[4:21:55 PM] hahahaharuka: ?

[4:22:03 PM] tataratakane: come over now and I'll get you ready

[4:22:09 PM] tataratakane: so like you don't show up a social wreck

[4:22:16 PM] tataratakane: not because I want to go with you or anything

[4:22:24 PM] tataratakane: not because this is our last year or anything

[4:22:30 PM] tataratakane: not because I wanted you to come from the start or anything

[4:22:32 PM] tataratakane: just saying

Mhm. _Really subtle._ Haruka laughed at the wall of text that began to appear on his screen. Aw, Takane, she was really cute. He glanced up at the window just above him as he typed his reply.

[4:22:41 PM] hahahaharuka: I'm here, just open the door whenever you're ready!

Takane almost fell off her chair as she clawed the blinds aside and peered out the window, the smiling face of her classmate just by her front door. She typed rapidly, both out of shock and the pure absurdity of it all.

[4:22:45 PM] tataratakane: wait wait wait WHAT?

[4:22:48 PM] tataratakane: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN OUT THERE WHAT EVEN

[4:22:56 PM] hahahaharuka: There's only three hours left!

[4:23:03 PM] hahahaharuka: Every second counts!

There was a buzz from the girl's bed, where her phone lay neglected. Too lazy to get up, she tugged her blanket until the phone was within reach.

'_We match.' _Was all it said. A message from Shintaro.

Takane looked back out the window at Haruka who was waving and then back to the phone. Okay, then. They'd play it this way. No problem. No problem at all.

'_Hah. Coincidence. We match too.'_

They did so not match right now.

The next three hours would be hell, the gamer mused. Hopefully she didn't accidentally kill Haruka before they even made it. She opened the door to be greeted with his stellar smile and another happy wave.

"Come in. But my room's off limits, okay?"

* * *

><p>Shintaro was sweating, the makeup was light but it felt weird and his hair had been trimmed and styled but it felt weird. To top it off, he was in a suit – something he had never worn since… well, never and to be perfectly honest, he felt really, really weird.<p>

His dress shirt was red, as Ayano had requested, and a sleek crimson pin was slid into his hair to match her ever-present clips that she still adorned even in a formal get-up. A gorgeous red flower that reminded him of her was pinned to his blazer, a simple decoration that Ayano had pinned to her own dress so that they did indeed match.

Speaking of which, Ayano was gorgeous. Like what in the entire world was going on she had reached a new level of gorgeousness that wasn't achievable by mankind and he could not even tear his gaze away. Pretty. Shut up brain, he had commanded countless times. What happened to the 'cold and cool' Shintaro? How was he going to survive the night if he broke into sweat every time she looked at him?

Ayano in her complex pulled-up, pinned and prodded hairstyle and her flowing red dress and her flawless skin and just wow. Wow.

"You look …" He couldn't even find the words. Who had dubbed him the genius again? No word in his wide mental vocabulary could come close to describing this. This angel that was standing in his lounge room. Straight from the heavens.

"Okay?" Ayano ventured nervously, twirling as if she wasn't used to the sensation just yet.

"Yeah." Shintaro breathed. "More than okay. You look. Um. Nice."

She laughed sweetly, "You look nice too. I'm glad we match, it'll look really nice in photos when we look back later!"

Oh no, photos. His nemesis. "Do we have to take photos together?"

"Yes, of course! Why wouldn't we?"

Because I can't even smile at a camera and you are the most photogenic person to ever walk the planet?

He coughed awkwardly. "Because I don't like photos?"

Ayano grinned at him, "That's exactly why we're taking them."

Before he could protest, she beckoned Momo towards them, holding out a shiny red camera in her palms. "Momo, could you please take a photo of us together?"

The younger girl looked pleased. "Okay."

Shintaro sent his sister a pointed look but it was ignored. He may have been imagining it but he thought he saw Momo smirk at him, her small frame racking with silent laughter.

He didn't smile when the camera went off, but it seemed Ayano had suspected this would happen and after thanking Momo, quickly took an impromptu picture of the boy which he had no time to react to. "Delete it," He demanded, but she was already pulling him out the door.

"Come on, come on, let's go!"

It was certainly not the most sophisticated way to get to the formal – did other students book those limousines parked outside the hotel? Seriously? – but it was definitely the most thrilling. They literally seemed like a runaway couple dashing down the streets all made-up and classy, but Ayano kept a keen eye on any of their outfits even slipping a little out of place.

They had reached the hotel with minutes to spare, and the girl muttered something about 'finally not being late' to something. Takane stood in the alleyway with her arms crossed, waving at them when they arrived.

"Hey. You made it. I see you're both going for the red look."

"Oh, and you look so cute!" Ayano bounded up to the girl to take a quick photo together, their red and blue dresses a stark contrast to each other.

"I thought you'd be the one to turn up in a tux or something." Shintaro jeered at Takane, all in good spirits. "I was looking forward to seeing Haruka try and get around in a dress."

"Don't be mean!" Ayano squealed, hitting him lightly in the shoulder. "You should be telling her she looks beautiful and should wear dresses more often."

"Ugh, no thank you." The pair of rivals recited dramatically at the same time before grinning at her, and the brunette only rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to go chase him down." Takane sighed when they finally asked about Haruka. "Just wanted to make sure you two made it over in one piece."

They exchanged smiles and bid her good luck before Shintaro and Ayano were left alone once more.

"This isn't that bad." He whistled lowly, surprisingly being the first to break the silence. "I kinda like you. It. I mean. I mean this. This place. I like this place." Man, he really needed to fix his brain-to-mouth word filter. When was the last time that hadn't been broken?

His companion giggled, as she was used to his adorable embarrassing antics. "Yes. Yes it's… nice."

A tall male in a formal getup approached them, pointing both his fingers at Ayano.

"And you're looking really nice tonight."

'No. Go Away.' Shintaro thought, mentally kicking the other guy. 'Leave us alone.'

"You too." The girl smiled up at him, winking at Shintaro. "Look, we match!"

The guy laughed. "You came with Kisaragi? Now that's a joke."

"We're together." Shintaro stated calmly, having briefed Ayano with the pretend-to-be-a-couple plan just before they arrived. She had agreed with it as long as it helped him out, and he told her that it did indeed help him immensely and they left it at that. "Ayano and I."

"Oh yeah? My bad then."

A girl slunk up behind him, peering at the two suspiciously, "What? I don't believe it."

Their other classmate grinned. "Yeah, if you're together then kiss."

Now that wasn't part of the plan. As people started to cluster around them, he felt a little claustrophobic.

"What's going on?" Otoki, the annoying guy from his class had appeared too, the situation having drawn his attention to the red-clad duo. He raised an eyebrow at Shintaro, shooting Ayano a sly look. "Oh. Oh I see. Not dating, eh?"

"We're together." Shintaro repeated, having nothing else to say. "Ayano, let's go-"

"No, no, no, wait a second." Otoki slung an arm around his classmate's shoulders, watching them. "If you're together, kissing shouldn't be a problem, right?"

The boy from earlier high-fived him. "If you can't even kiss her… you might as well let her hang out with us, you know? We can kiss her for you."

Ayano's mouth was pressed into a thin line. "Please don't treat me like I'm an object. Maybe we just… don't want to kiss in public. Shintaro's a little shy."

Shintaro nodded absent-mindedly, the pin slowly slipping out of his hair. See, this was why he really didn't like people. People were nosy, and unkind. "It's none of your business anyway. I came with her so people like you wouldn't try and take advantage of her."

Otoki's tall friend scoffed, "So you're not together, are you?"

"We are!"

"Then prove it."

"Yeah," called another voice from afar, "Prove it. With a kiss."

"Shintaro…" Ayano mumbled, pulling him down by the sleeve so she could whisper in his ear. "It's okay. I don't mind if it's just one, it'll be to get them off our backs, right-"

"No." He stated firmly. Not like this. "I won't do it."

"You scared?" A girl – one of the girls Ayano often spoke to in English, interrupted with a challenging stare. "We're not in elementary school, Shintaro. It's just a kiss."

"I'm not doing it."

Ayano placed a hand on his shoulder, "Shintaro, I really don't mind-"

"I refuse to kiss _her_." He shrugged off her hand and stormed off, leaving a series of bewildered faces behind him.

"Shintaro? Shintaro, where are you going?!"

"Get lost! You're so annoying!" After a few steps, he broke into a run; running where? He didn't even know.

All he knew was that he had royally screwed up once again.

* * *

><p>"<em>I don't need you."<em>

Takane sank to the ground of the same alleyway she was in earlier, her legs finally giving out on her. Dropping the bags she was minding by her sides, she struggled to keep quiet – all she wanted to do was scream. She gripped the edge of her skirt in anger, trying to stop the tears from falling from her eyes.

She had only tried to help him, told him to be careful because he could absolutely not over-exert himself in a place like this and Haruka had frowned at her for the first time and told her, "_You don't have to worry about me, Takane. I'm alright on my own._"

Okay, fine. That was fine. She could deal with that.

"_I don't need you."_

But that was taking it too far.

She brought her knees up to her chest. He was such an idiot. She didn't need him either then. Fine. Whatever. She was fine. It didn't bother her at all.

"I hate you…"

* * *

><p>After Shintaro had fled, Ayano politely excused herself from the venue and went to look for him. He knew this because he heard people talking about it. He didn't run far before he realised it wouldn't be good if he got lost, so he ended up loitering around in the shadows back near the hotel, listening to any conversations that just so happened to take place on the balcony above him.<p>

Just out of boredom, and not because he particularly cared.

"Did you see Ayano?"

He was well past the point of caring. Who cared about her? He didn't. Totally. Didn't. Where was she right now anyway?

"She went after Kisaragi when he ran off."

"Why? That girl's too caring for her own good."

Shintaro couldn't help but agree to this though. Why did she try so hard for him? She gained absolutely nothing from being friends with him and yet she still persisted until they had grown to this point… until he had grown to love her. And grown into a bumbling, ludicrous fool.

"I guess them coming together was a farce."

"Yeah, I thought so. They don't complement each other at all."

"But he seemed so much happier with her around…"

"I thought Ayano seemed happier too. Maybe it was all just a game they were playing."

"A game that nobody won, huh?"

He had tuned out after that but she had found him in the end, as she always did. He could never escape the girl even if he tried, which was both a blessing and a curse.

His crimson angel looked immaculate as ever, and not at all like she had climbed through the bushes to reach him; which is exactly what she had said she'd done.

"You know Shintaro… I noticed you've been acting kind of strange lately."

"I see." He sat down on the stone stairs of the exit, indifferent, and she sat down beside him.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No."

A pause, as they both collected their thoughts. Ayano really wished she hadn't left her bag with Takane – it was getting colder outside and she wanted to wear her scarf. Or at least drape it over Shintaro, since he looked like he was cold but was simply ignoring it.

"This… this is probably a bad time to bring it up but… remember the time when you said-"

He knew this was coming back to bite him eventually but he was not in the mood for this right now. She knew. She had known of his disgusting feelings. He was done for the night. "Go away, Ayano. Leave me alone."

"-that you loved me too at the supermark-"

"Ayano, shut up. Go away."

"-et and well, I just wanted to say that I-"

Shintaro stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets and started to walk away from her for the second time that night.

"I don't want to hear it." He spoke sharply, "I'll see you on Monday."

Ayano stayed seated on the stairs, observing his retreating figure. She let out a soft grumble, locking her fingers together and stretching her hands out in a gesture of hopelessness.

"I just wanted to say that… I meant it when I said 'I love you'…"


	4. Summer Rendezvous

**A/N: **I don't know if you are all secretly writing angels or something but after everyone gave me such lovely comments, I just wrote and wrote until... well... I updated. This is actually the quickest I have ever written something (and lengthiest, oh my gosh), so I am sincerely shocked.

YOU GUYS MAKE ME CRY HAPPY TEARS, I DON'T UNDERSTAND. THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE ANYTHING SPECIAL BUT THEN. You people. Just. Wow. Some of you are actually the sweetest people in the world I can't even- I want to hug you all and just aaaaawww, I love you! I really am going to work hard until this story finally ends, so I hope I can do it justice.

* * *

><p>Summer couldn't have come any sooner. The last few weeks of term consisted of exam over exam and Ayano spent so much time in make-up classes and mock exams and tutoring that Shintaro almost believed she was evading him… but he knew she had to do this in order to pass. Offering his own personal tutoring was out of the question at this point – he didn't have an excuse, he was just scared.<p>

He would be the first to admit his lack of social graces, and confronting Ayano alone right now would be too much for him to handle. You know, without completely screwing himself 500 times over. Why couldn't he act like a decent human being for once?

Also his disgraceful word-to-mouth filter was actually killing him with its utter idiocy. One occasion being:

"Shintaro, good morning! How are you?"

"Yes."

And another; "Shintaro, could I borrow a pencil?"

"It's around 2:20, I'm assuming."

"What…?"

"Not bad, thank you."

That wasn't to say he was the only one being a total idiot for inexplicable reasons though.

Haruka had in fact spent most of the time avoiding Takane after the disaster that was formal, though Ayano and Shintaro both noticed him glancing at her when she wasn't looking. Despite this, if you flipped through Haruka's vent art in his sketchbook, it would literally all be sketches of Takane.

All of her smiling, and to be blunt, looking at those pictures was just saddening.

It was complicated and stupid and no-one really wanted to speak up first, so they had left it like that for weeks.

Then Shintaro had found him eating on the rooftop alone once, and he simply sat beside the other boy and stared him down until he caved and started to explain.

"Okay, what's wrong with you?"

Haruka didn't seem surprised, as he only laughed in response. It was hard to get a lie past Shintaro anyway. "Haha, it's nothing… I'm just hungry."

"'It's nothing' my ass, Haruka." The genius crossed his arms, and glowered at the other boy. "What did she do this time?"

"She didn't do anything…" Okay. That was new. Usually Takane was the troublemaker, but if she didn't do it then the only other person that could have was…

"What did _you_ do then?"

The artist sighed, wrapping up his unfinished food. "Wouldn't she be a lot happier if she didn't have to worry about me all the time? She could do so much and yet… with me, the silly me and my sickness, I'm always just holding her back. Ah, I'm such a burden…"

Shintaro didn't reply.

"It's something like that."

Takane too had taken to ignoring her classmate after she realised he wouldn't talk to her, chatting to Ayano and arguing with Shintaro as per usual but taking off as soon as Haruka approached them. All the Shintaro of these days thought was, 'See why we shouldn't go to social events? Social events ruin everything. Socialising is unnecessary and painful.'

He could hear Ayano in his head telling him 'but making friends is a thing we can learn from! The world is not as bad as you think…!' Yeah, okay, before going back to Ayano he should actually gain the courage to initiate conversation again. It seemed nowadays all their conversations were one-sided; the girl's voice the only one filling in the silence that shouldn't be there at all.

Her voice, her face, her smile. It was always there beside him, and he couldn't help but want to embrace it but knew it wasn't to be.

Ayano would talk to him in class, and throw him notes and smiles and waves – but it was almost as if they had returned to the first week of their rocky friendship. He was cold to her. He was as pathetic a friend as anyone could ever be. The only way he could be a worse friend than this was to ignore her if she was ever crying to herself.

At least even he wasn't_ that_ bad of a person.

"Come on, brother, move it!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, geez!"

Back to current events, Momo had taken the summer sun full on, and Shintaro found himself constantly reprimanding his sister for being reckless or drawing too much attention to herself though in reality the only thing that changed was her figure. Maybe a little tan. And well, she couldn't quite control either of those.

Dancing lessons commenced over the summer and Shintaro had to take her since their mother had been hospitalised again, and though he was a jerk he wouldn't make her over-exert herself over such a small thing. The risk was too high. Well, that and Momo transformed into a shrieking Spartan woman when she wanted something and Shintaro really couldn't go up against that.

He entered the studio grumpily, his only consolation being the air conditioning that revived him from his heat-driven half-dead state and his phone with glorious internet. His sister flew off at the first chance, and was hanging from the gymnast poles in the corner the next time he looked up.

"Ah! Shintaro? Is that you?" Really? Really, now of all times? Here of all places?

"Ayano." He nodded in acknowledgement though his expression showed not a hint of friendliness. "What are you doing here?"

The answer should've been obvious judging by her attire, but anything to hear her voice. The holidays had given him severe Ayano withdrawal and he would've smothered her if that wasn't the most mortifying thought ever. He was supposed to be cold and distant, he promised himself. Yet he was also still so, so in love with this unattainable angel at the same time. He absolutely hated it. Love sucked.

"I'm the teacher's assistant." She smiled kindly with an air of uncertainty, "Part-time job to help my parents take care of Kido, Seto and Kano. Though it's a little awkward because I can't exactly dance…"

"I'll be here in the corner silently judging your lack of skill then." It slipped out naturally, as if he were used to it. So much for ignoring her, he might as well make an exception outside of school, right? Not like it changed anything. Not like it _would_ change anything.

Ayano frowned at him wearily, "That's a terrible thing to say! While you're here, you should dance."

"Yes, come dance." The apathetic dance instructor appeared behind Ayano, a few inches shorter but the most graceful person Shintaro had ever witnessed. She had insanely long black hair, pulled back into a wavy ponytail that touched the floor when she looked up. "I'm Azami. It's wonderful to finally meet the older Kisaragi." She bowed.

"N-nice to meet you." He stumbled over his words, suddenly unnerved by the unfamiliar powerful presence. "I, uh, I'm Momo's brother and an acquaintance of Ayano-"

"Friend." Ayano cut in firmly. "He's my friend from school too! You'll love him, Azami."

"I'm sure I will." The instructor gave a small smile, before blowing a whistle and assembling all the dancers on the floor. "Warm up, everybody. Tateyama will lead you through the first exercise, and this young man here will accompany her. Please make him feel welcome."

All the young children applauded, Momo grinning at her brother and sending him a joyous wave. Ayano looked at him apologetically, before speaking, "Alright, everyone… let's start with stretching…! Shintaro will join in once we get the first song playing, okay?"

Shintaro sputtered. How did he get himself into this!? He had the right mind to refuse if only Azami's piercing red stare hadn't given him the very warning he needed. The dance instructor was evil, he was sure of it.

That or the universe was conspiring against him.

He didn't have much time to think before Ayano took his phone out of his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor. "Ayano, I really don't think I could-"

"Compensation for not dancing with me at formal." She whispered shyly, before clapping her hands together and calling out to the class, "Okay, we'll start by jogging on the spot, okay?"

* * *

><p>It may have been the heat acting but that one afternoon of dancing until Shintaro completely passed out had struck a chord in them both, and though they were not as close as they were before, Ayano and Shintaro had definitely returned to speaking normally and didn't have to skirt around each other any longer.<p>

He was relieved, but also scared, still scared of where they'd go from here. He knew that she knew his feelings, after all.

What he didn't realise was that she was just as scared that her assumption had been wrong. His rejection of her in public had caused the girl to re-organise her thoughts, and she was not so sure Shintaro even liked her anymore. He didn't act like it.

It may have also been the heat acting when Ayano brightly declared they were going to the beach at 11pm over dinner. Momo had thought it a wonderful idea even though she couldn't go because of choir commitments; however Shintaro had told her to wait until the morning. Undeterred, Ayano had prattled on,

"Let's bring Haruka and Takane!"

"I don't think that's a good idea…" But if we go alone, it'd probably be an even worse idea…

"We should take them by force, then?"

"I never said anything like that!"

Haruka would have politely declined their invitation if Shintaro and Ayano had not arrived at his house at 4 in the morning to drag him out shouting something about 'a beach trip' and 'journey of recuperation' or whatever else they were high on.

Shintaro had a zero percent tolerance to heat, but complained if he wasn't wearing the jersey Ayano had dubbed 'the hero jersey' so they had to deal with his whining a good part of the journey to the sea. The ride to the beach was painfully embarrassing as well, with Ayano's father (and Haruka's teacher) Kenjirou driving and asking a multitude of questions that they honestly did not want to answer.

"Not just going to check out the lifeguards, are you kids?"

"No dad, we're not going for that."

"So Ayano, these two your followers now, are they?"

"No dad, they aren't." Ayano, bless her, simply laughed off every single question.

Haruka just drew idly in his book the whole way, beaming occasionally at the corny jokes that were exchanged, but still way too sleepy to function at the time. He would look out the window whenever he felt a little dizzy.

Shintaro had to keep his eyes trained on the road too, because one look at Ayano in her white sundress and white sunhat caused Kenjirou to go off on a whole rant about keeping his 'precious daughter out of the hands of creeps on the beach'.

"I don't want to hurt you Kisaragi, but if you hurt her, then I will."

"I'm not going to."

"If you let someone else hurt her, then I will hurt you."

"It's not going to happen."

"If you let anyone suspicious near her, I will have your head."

"Yes sir, I understand."

Bidding Kenjirou farewell, they had hopped off at the harbour, strolling along the pier for a while until Ayano's phone rang signalling Takane's arrival.

Haruka borderline ran for it when they spotted her, and it was Shintaro who held him in place, biting back the insults he wanted to hurl. Instead, he spoke into the other boy's ear, "Nothing was ever going to be solved if you ran away." Shintaro had always known he was a hypocrite.

"Hey guys. Why are we at the beach at this ungodly hour of the morning?" Takane clipped, knocking Ayano lightly on the forehead with her hand. If they had seen Haruka blush before, he had never blushed harder.

Takane always kept herself covered to a T, even wearing stockings under her skirt during the winter time, so it was a surprise to everyone when she showed up in a sleeveless hoodie, tank top and shorts. Once she reached them, she began unzipping the hoodie under the excuse that 'the heat is going to give me heat stroke'. Haruka forced himself to look away, his face heating further.

Usually she would have fretted over him, checked his temperature multiple times to see if he had a fever, but this role seemed to have passed onto Ayano as she darted between the two in concern.

"You're not feeling sick, are you?"

"We're here because Ayano decided this was a good idea." Shintaro answered Takane's question, ignoring the short pang of jealousy as Ayano patted Haruka's face, checking to see if he was still breathing. How low could he get? He _knew _it was plain illogical to get jealous over something like that.

In fact, he should've been worried about Haruka too. What a jerk.

Takane swayed a little, her stance unstable. "Yeah. Great idea. I'm falling asleep on my feet here, don't be alarmed if I collapse on you, Shin."

"Don't you dare, I am not carrying you if you sleep here."

"Weak." Sometimes it was the bitter Takane that kept him alive, and without her cutting remarks, Shintaro was pretty sure he would've become a melted love-struck mess at Ayano's feet by now. Now that would not have been attractive at all.

Pulling Ayano's hands away from his face, Haruka smiled at Takane for the first time in a long while. "He's the only one that can though, haha…"

"Haruka, you-"

"I guess I can't do anything for you, can I?"

"Yeah, you're right." Takane spat after a moment of shocked silence, "_I don't need you_." Seething, she turned tail and started racing back across the sand. She was halted by a group of lumbering school boys but it only took a vicious glare to send them reeling away from her.

"Bye…" Haruka pulled self-consciously at the sleeves of his white hoodie.

"Go after her." Shintaro commanded his friend sharply. You know what, if fate insisted that he had friends, he was going to very well make sure said friends would be happy. Also his friends were all stupid.

"But I…"

"Go!" Ayano, taking the assertive role from Shintaro's incompetent hands, all but pushed Haruka forward in the direction Takane had run. "Tell her the truth."

"But…"

"Haruka I swear, if I don't see you running in the next few seconds, something very, very bad will happen to you." The girl shot him what was supposed to be a threatening look, and Shintaro only wanted to laugh because she was pulling such a strange expression it was hilarious. An empty threat too, he strongly believed Ayano couldn't commit a terrible act even if she tried.

It seemed like that was all it took though, as Haruka started off in the direction his classmate had gone, holding a hand to his chest to stabilise his breathing. Shintaro felt a surge of pride as they watched the male speed up, _Haruka had finally figured it out._

"You were right." Ayano muttered, as the two of them had been left alone once again. "They can be idiots sometimes."

"Actually I think you were right." Shintaro smirked, ruffling the girl's hair much to her chagrin. "They can be cute sometimes too."

Takane heard the light thundering footsteps behind her and turned to see Haruka running after her. In an act of defiance, she ran even faster, but it took a split second for her to feel bad and she spun around completely, running back towards the panting boy. Haruka was so out of breath that he practically collided with her and they both fell to the ground in fits of nervous laughter.

"That was a really bad idea." Takane breathed, having calmed down first. "You saw me coming back! Why did you keep running?"

"I wanted to catch you first." Haruka smiled tensely, "But I think that didn't quite work out."

She pushed him over with a terse chuckle. "You're an idiot."

"I really am."

* * *

><p>"Ice-cream!" Ayano cheered, pressing the cold dessert to his lips. "Try some, Shintaro!"<p>

"I know what ice-cream tastes like." He mumbled against her spoon, deliberately not taking any.

"That's not what I meant! Try _my _ice-cream then…!"

Cute. Cute. She was really, really cute. Stay calm, Shintaro, this kind of torture is never long-lasting and the sooner you admit she's just an ordinary human being and not some kind of deity the sooner you can get over this ridiculous infatuation you have on this girl.

Just take the ice-cream and tell her you need to go.

"There's no reason to." 'A little bit longer.'

Don't 'a little bit longer' me, inner Shintaro. Get lost.

Ayano raised an eyebrow, bowing her head at him dramatically while pushing it further into his face. "Please eat this; it's already touched your lips."

"What? You think I've infected it—nngh-" Shintaro had forgotten for a second that she was all but shoving it into his mouth and was forced to swallow the cold spoonful whole. Like he needed another brain freeze that day. Being in Ayano's house for the first time after a long day at the beach had already slowed his brain functioning by what? 99%? Enough to ruin his cool and dashing image, he was certain.

"Indirect kiss!" The blond rascal that was Ayano's younger brother Kano chortled from the doorway of the kitchen, fleeing before his older sister could get to him.

"Shuuya, come back! That's not what it was!"

"It's okay, I've got this." Another one of Ayano's siblings, Kido, emerged from the kitchen cupboard – wait, what? – wielding a frying pan and moved to chase after Kano. Shintaro hoped he wouldn't find the boy's dead body if they ventured upstairs later on.

Ayano only seemed to think it amusing, as she waved off Shintaro's bewildered face and brought her smallest brother Seto up to sit on her lap. "Now, Kou-kun. Say hello to Shintaro. Shintaro is my friend from school."

"H-hello…!" The boy waved, a little anxious. He was just as cute as his sister. Shintaro tried not to grin in return. Some people had told him his grin was actually quite disturbing.

"Hey."

"D-do you like onee-chan?" Okay, no, no, kid, don't you dare go there. Shintaro would have to say yes, or the boy would only think of him as a terrible person and say if he did marry Ayano in the future – only hypothetically! Not getting ahead of himself here – then he would have to give a good impression to her family, right? To say no would be rude.

"No." No, Shintaro, don't do this. Why do you always do this? " I mean yes, yes, it's… hard not to." Close one. Easy. Doesn't give anything away. Ayano beamed at him and shook her head, setting her brother down on the chair she had been sitting on before.

"Kou-kun, I'm going to get you guys some more ice-cream. I want you to call Shuuya and Tsubomi down when I'm back, okay?"

"Okay!" Seto brightened considerably, patting the table. "I will look after Shintaro-san too!"

She laughed and hugged him briefly, "Good boy."

"So," Shintaro cleared his throat once she had left the room. "Why aren't you playing with the other two?" Just start a conversation with the family. Make sure they know you're not a threat. Easy.

Seto shrugged, "Why aren't you buying ice-cream with onee-chan?" Without giving him a chance to respond, the young boy laid his chin on the table and continued. "Sometimes they can be scary even when they don't mean it. When I'm older, I will definitely hang out with them all the time!"

"When you're older? Why not do the things you want to now? There's no use wasting time waiting." Ah. Shintaro the hypocrite strikes back. Maybe if he took his own advice for once, he could actually get somewhere with Ayano. Not that he thought it could happen or anything, just a nice thought.

"You're right." The boy smiled up at him in admiration. "I'll try to be brave for Kano and Kido."

"You're taking advice from me?"

"Shintaro the hypocrite strikes back." Seto flailed happily for a moment and before Shintaro could question him on this incredibly familiar statement, the boy was running to the door to greet Ayano who was stumbling in with bags of ice-cream.

When Shintaro eyed her many bags in concern, she only giggled. "Kids eat a lot more than you think, okay? … and maybe some of it is for you too."

"I already had some."

"One spoonful doesn't count. I had to feed that to you anyway…!"

"Maybe he won't eat it unless you feed him." Kano and Kido had somehow sensed the ice-cream and arrived promptly, the former sniggering when Shintaro directed a pointed look at him for his remark. Kido ignored them both in favour of hopping onto the counter to watch Ayano work.

When Shintaro began to glare at him, Kano only continued, "You should feed him until he chokes and you need to perform CPR on him."

"Why?!" Ayano, in the middle of opening the boxes, snorted at the idea. "That could kill the poor boy!"

"A really indirect kiss. Indirect way of getting a kiss, he means." Kido concluded for her brother, who was currently rolling on the floor since Ayano genuinely seemed confused about the whole idea.

"If she wanted a kiss, she could just ask." Shintaro offered, not really processing his words. Then he froze and sank into his chair. In front of her siblings, too… god. He was an embarrassment to society.

Seto though, much to Shintaro's surprise, twirled around to give Ayano a bewildered look, "But I thought you said last term he didn't want to kiss you when you wanted to-"

Kido ninja rolled off the kitchen bench to hush Seto, who quickly realised his mistake. Ayano blushed, pulling her scarf over her face as she continued to sort out the ice-cream. Shintaro had remained in his statue-esque position on his chair.

He must have been hearing things. There was no way. Without question, doubtlessly, positively no way. Seto was an imaginative kid. He probably thought he remembered that, but didn't.

"Oh ho, well, isn't this interesting! Let me tell you a story!" Kano grinned impishly, padding over to elbow Ayano in the sides to which she bent over in ticklish laughter. "Nee-chan wanted to kiss Shintaro ages ago but she thought it was shameful to ask, see."

"Shuuya, shush! He doesn't need to know that!"

"Onee-chan wanted Shintaro-san to be her boyfriend for a long time." Seto added cheerily now that the secrets were being spilt. Shintaro just about slipped off his chair and under the table, having lost complete control over his body. Ayano practically died from humiliation, and dove behind the counter with her bowls and spoons.

"Kou-kun! Don't!"

"Onee-chan writes about Kisaragi on her blog…"

"Tsubomi…! I didn't even know you were following me…!"

"Beep beep. Shintaro has stopped responding." Kano was immediately hit by Kido after that comment, before she attempted to pull the older boy back into his chair after he hit the floor but failed miserably.

"Did… did I kill him?" Kido twitched anxiously, shaking Shintaro's limp body on the floor.

"CPR!" Kano and Seto shouted, dragging Ayano towards the boy's still form, screaming when she picked them both up and put them on top of the counter.

"Okay. Well." Ayano started, her face bright red but her composure mostly recovered. "This was definitely not how I wanted this day to go."

"Y-y-y-you-"

"Shintaro, be quiet before you spoil this." Kido told him discreetly, punching him before moving to save Seto from falling off the counter before Kano pushed him off to scare him.

Ayano squatted down besides Shintaro, "As you've figured out today. I am not trusting these guys with you ever again."

"But if you're marrying him, we need to get to know him really well! Really really well-" Kano protested loudly until Kido hauled him off the counter, reaching the kitchen tiles with a resounding thud.

"I actually had this whole confession written somewhere, haha… but since they've been so kind to fill you in already, I guess I don't need to go get it, huh…"

Shintaro stared up at the underside of the table, unblinking.

"This has been really fun. I hope you had fun today, Shintaro."

The girl smiled, brushing some of his hair out of his face.

"Why aren't they kissing yet?" Seto asked Kido in the most hushed tone he could muster. "Do you think they know how to kiss?"

"Let's all exit super silently and give onee-chan some space, okay? Kano, that especially means you."

The trio left the room, with Kano yelling, "Just kiss already!" As he passed. Kido knocked him out and carried him the rest of the way.

Shintaro seemed to come back to life after that, stiffly sitting up and keeping his eyes now trained on the floor. "L-look, Ayano, I-I-"

"I get it if you don't like me the same way." She sighed, holding his head with both hands until their eyes met. "But I'm happy you know now."

"A-ayano, I r-real-really-" Please, please, please let this work.

He was so close and his mind was weakening fast, he had to do it now.

"I hope we can still be friends, if that's okay? I really like you, Shintaro. Truly and honestly."

Deep breath. "Ayano. Just. Just give me a moment." Words could never do this justice.

Cliché as it was, no words could ever tell her how much she meant to him.

This girl had changed his life, and this girl had made him see that life was indeed worth living.

It wasn't anything theatrical, or outstanding, there were no spotlights aimed at them, no pitter-patter of rain washing over or birds singing in the trees. It was not planned, not scripted, not staged, and yet even under the dim kitchen lights under the dining table of the Tateyama residence – it was perfect.

He took her hands in his, and they kissed.


	5. Autumn Overdose

**A/N: **I'm sorry this took longer than expected! I have exams so I've been putting all my effort to those… but I am still writing this! It will go on for a little bit more! I'm absolutely blown away by the feedback I've gotten from this, so truly thank you. You're all beautiful people and I wish I could come hug you all but I can't… sadly.

A little bit self-conscious of this chapter but hey, we'll see how we go.

Um, is it too late to say 'warning for cursing'? Haha… there is only a little bit but here's… a … warning…

* * *

><p>"Alright, alright, alright, alright." Takane's voice first thing in the morning first day back to school was something he really didn't want to hear.<p>

Regardless of his very unusual happy state since the… summer incident, Shintaro just wanted to be left alone until he was once again united with his one true love- er, he meant his. Unofficial girlfriend. That's the one.

Not have miss denial (yeah, he was one to talk) honing in on his business, thank you very much.

"What, Enomoto?"

"So I heard what happened." She smirked at him from behind her bangs and Shintaro stiffened in his seat. "How's it feel, lover boy? Or should I be calling you Shintaro Tateyama?"

"Shut up!" He growled moodily, as Haruka and Ayano entered the classroom. They had all apparently made it a habit to get to school early today and Shintaro hadn't the foggiest why. "Anyway, it's not like that. Wait, why am I taking the surname?"

"Just because." Takane shrugged, lying back down as the two newcomers sat down and completed their little square of desks. "Hey Haruka, guess who got together over the summer."

"You … got a boyfriend?"

Shintaro pressed a palm to his own face. "Not her."

"_You _got a boyfriend?"

"Not him!" Takane half-murmured half-laughed, "Well technically him. If Ayano counts as a boyfriend."

"H-hey!" The brunette protested, using her scarf to whack Takane on the head. "Wait a second!"

"Eh? Shintaro and Ayano are..?" Haruka bit into his skewer idly, eyes darting between the two in dazed confusion. Shintaro resisted the urge to push the other boy over. It was too early for this.

"W-well…" Ayano giggled nervously from her place beside Takane, going and hiding her face in the older girl's hair. They waited, but she made no further comment.

"… I'll answer." Shintaro the hero swooped in to save the day. What a man. "Yes, but no. Uh, we're the thing, yeah. Yes, the thing. We are that. Thing."

Yeah, smooth, Kisaragi.

He saw Takane grinning at him and he glared, sparing a single glance to Ayano who buried herself further down into the other girl's sweater.

Why couldn't he just kidnap that super cute bundle of red scarf and take her home? Heavy sighing.

… don't get the wrong idea. He didn't mean it like that.

Ah, but before he questions his questionable state of mind he should probably explain to Haruka first. At least he knew the older boy would be supportive.

"So, basically Ayano and I are the thing." Ugh, vocabulary please toss yourself into the river. Shintaro-brain was not functioning today. Then again, when did it ever function anymore? Ever since he met Ayano, nothing had been functioning in his life.

Yeah, blaming her would be good. Crushes were crushing.

Ayano was a life-ruiner.

A really, really cute life-ruiner.

Takane snorted, pushing Ayano off her head. "The thing. Yes. That is what you are."

At Takane's blatant lack of tactfulness, Ayano started giggling childishly, miming shaky hearts at Shintaro as a gesture of surrender. Dork. He really wanted to keep her forever, that stupid life-ruiner.

"Yes, we are the thing."

"The thing?" Poor Haruka was so confused. "Sorry, what's 'the thing'?"

* * *

><p>Though if Shintaro thought it was ever going to be a smooth ride from now on, he was wrong.<p>

"Oh, this one looks kind of interesting, what do you think…?

He had dreams once – that if one day this kind of person was to enter his life he would sweep them away with the most majestic and beautiful manner he instantly gained from this level up in life. Yeah, this level up did nothing but add 500 exp to his self-consciousness and plus 435 dumbness.

"Shintaro…? Do you want to watch this one?"

Everything she said was adorable and he didn't even care about anything else any more.

Hello 911, this is an emergency, how does one accomplish life?

Correction: How does one resist Ayano cutest-person-in-the-entire-world Tateyama?

"Shintaro?"

He saw a field of flowers in the back of his mind where he ran around in a shower of sparkles, his beautiful, beautiful companion beside him. They had a picnic and they ran around in the flower fields, and it was great.

…. Anyway.

He was a genius for goodness' sake, but an IQ of 168 wouldn't stop him drowning in his own stupidity around the cheery girl.

"Hey!" There was a thud of a book on his head. "Shintaro, are you even listening?"

"Y-yes!" He almost squeaked but no; that was unmanly. Shintaro didn't do unmanly. "I mean yeah, yeah of course."

"It's okay." Ayano smiled. "You're tired. I was the one who asked you to come over, after all…"

"But I came willingly." He shrugged. "And we're like daters. On a date. I mean. So it's cool."

He applauded himself mentally. 5 stars for the idiot in the red jersey.

Ayano didn't seem too convinced but she smiled anyway. "Hahaha, I guess you're right…"

"So, the movie?"

There was a small moment of silence before she perked back up, scrambling to reach a disc from her shelf. "Oh! Are you alright with horror movies? Or not really a fan?"

Shintaro cringed. Well, actually, about that… "They're … fine. Absolutely fine. Put it in."

She obeyed quickly, slotting it in and almost tripping on the rug to get to the lights.

"We're watching in the dark?" He felt the sense of dread building. He could barely deal with horror movies in a fully lit room.

"Um… is that bad…?" Ayano probably wasn't aware of the way her eyes widened slightly and her mouth formed the most adorable pout in existence.

He would have to punch a wall to feel manly again.

"No, no, that's fine. Do it. Whatever."

"Okay! Ah, get on my bed." Wait, what?

She must have sensed his sudden panic before she quickly reiterated, "To watch the movie! The movie! Not for anything else!"

Mutely, Shintaro settled onto the bed stiffly and crossed his legs. He made sure not to touch any of the pillows or the walls, until Ayano crawled in besides him and practically pulled him under the blanket. When she wasn't satisfied, she pulled another extra fluffy blanket out from her closet and dropped it on his head.

"You have to be comfortable!" She scolded, "You could hurt yourself sitting like that…"

Before he could reply, the starting sequence began and he jumped slightly, eyes going to the screen. This was going to be a long movie.

He leaned against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest and Ayano did the same, tugging the blanket to cover their knees.

Yeah, okay, this wasn't too bad.

It was going to be just fine.

The finest horror movie he ever saw.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

Shintaro felt Ayano's fingers digging into his skin to keep him from falling off the bed and straight into her table. Deep breaths, deep breaths, for the love of god Shintaro, this was just a movie-

"C-calm down! It's okay!"

"OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT'S COMING, WHAT THE SHIT-"

"Shintaro…!"

He supposed, on the list of 'most embarrassing things Shintaro has ever done', this would have to fall somewhere on that admittedly stupidly long list. By the first jump scare when a shadow slammed into the window of the character's house, he had literally screamed and Ayano had to sit on him to get him to stay still.

"NO, NO, NO, NO…"

By this point in the movie, he held the girl tightly to his chest, and hid behind her whenever anything remotely terrifying appeared. It was fine, Shintaro had repeated in his mind, it was natural to be scared. Nothing was wrong with that.

Although at one point, he had struggled so much that his shirt had torn in places, if that was worth noting.

He would have fun explaining this when he got home.

Also Ayano was full-on blushing now, which was really cute. He slapped inner Shintaro in the midst of his terror, _now was not the time._

But nothing could change how utterly embarrassing it was to have his girlfriend pat him kindly as he clung to her, practically dead, from a scary movie of all things.

"You should've told me you didn't like these things…" She murmured gently, stroking his hair as he lay with his head on her lap. "I would have picked something else."

"They're f-fine," He answered shakily. "No problem."

Yeah, have fun trying to argue that point, Shintaro.

Now before he could embarrass himself any further, he is going to cut to a fabulous insecure monologue.

It had been a whole year, he lamented, since he first felt the indescribable crushing feeling of infatuation with Ayano and as the red leaves started to fall he couldn't help but wonder… how long would this feeling last? Would she get bored of him and leave…?

Well, if she did, he deserved it.

"Hey, don't be afraid to tell me your fears, your dreams, your wishes… and stuff like that, okay?" Ayano whispered, squishing his cheeks. "I love you, after all."

For a genius with a kill streak of 100%, he sure was pathetic.

Because at that moment, he fainted.

But he really did intend to keep this girl.

* * *

><p>"What, but why? Takane, why?"<p>

Ayano laughed, leaning her head on Shintaro's shoulder as they were confronted by the gamer girl in the corridors bright and early once more. Despite being the one to initiate the conversation, Takane seemed to be falling asleep on her feet.

Shintaro blinked idly, processing the information (and the brunette's hair was tickling him, oh god) before doubling over.

"What?! No!"

Takane crossed her arms, scowling. "Yes. Unless you'd both rather wear _maid dresses, _I suggest you go along with the play."

It seemed the school festival this year had changed its rules. Not for the best either, but schools always made preposterous rules.

"No way Enomoto, it's not happening."

Ayano poked him. "Hey, Shintaro, do you think I should audition for the country girl or the peasant?"

"You're the princess." He snapped, turning back to Takane before he realised what he had said. "I mean no,_ no_! Don't audition at all; we're not doing this, Ayano!"

"… aha. Guess it's settled." Takane twirled a pen in her hand, amused. "Ayano's going for the princess and the Shin is going for the prince, yeah?"

"No. I said no. I mean no."

"So you're okay with another guy getting friendly with your home girl over here?"

"No. We are not doing this. Ayano is not doing this. No."

"But Shintaro-"

"No." He sighed, patting his girlfriend on the head. "What does Haruka think about this?"

"We're leaving him out of it." Takane replied curtly. "He thinks the dresses would be fun."

"Isn't that because he wants to see you in a dress-"

"No! Shut up! We are not talking about this!"

"You didn't deny it." Shintaro smirked. It was much too fun messing with Takane, even though Ayano was sending him a sharp look.

Takane's scowl deepened then, before she sighed heavily. "Look. I'm asking this of you for your own good. If you want to suffer, then by all means, ignore me."

"Fine, then." Shintaro raised an eyebrow challengingly, before Ayano stepped between them, waving her hands in their faces.

"No. No fighting." She said, grabbing them both by the collars and hauling them into a nearby classroom so they wouldn't block anyone in the corridors.

"Shintaro, we're going to audition for the play."

"Ugh, no." He groaned, irritated, but nodded anyway.

He was so whipped it was ridiculous.

"Takane, you are going to do the maid thing."

"What?! But-"

"We're not risking you collapsing on stage, okay? It's 'for your own good'."

"Fine, fine, whatever, I'll just stay in the kitchen or something…" Grumbling, the girl muttered her agreement. It seemed no-one could really refuse Ayano.

"Don't forget call me master." Shintaro added jokingly, earning a glare from both the girls.

At this point, Haruka ran in, having found them with his super psychic senses or perhaps it was the echo of Shintaro's yelling as he got pummelled by Takane.

"Guys, guys! They revised the audition script for the play if you're interested – oh wow, what happened here?"

"Takane's going to be a maid!" Shintaro shouted, over the smaller girl's fuming. Takane kicked him and they engaged in a play fight with the desks and chairs.

"Hey, you two-!" Ayano slowly backed away from the two of them and to Haruka she said, "Make sure the only person she serves is you."

Haruka smiled brightly, waving the revised script in her general direction. "A maid doesn't pick their masters."

"Haruka!" Ayano stepped on his foot, but took the script carefully from his grasp. "But a master picks their maids! If I hear you letting anyone else near her, I will be out to get you Kokonose."

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good boy."

* * *

><p>The auditions and following weeks flew by so quickly, Shintaro could hardly believe they actually had parts to do and learn and rehearse and the actual performance was tomorrow. It was to be held at a school festival, just before they all broke off for winter break.<p>

Being a genius, it was no problem learning his lines but stage fright got even the best of people; and seeing the crowd that gathered, it wouldn't be any surprise why.

Luckily, there were only two performances they needed to do – one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Unluckily (well, it was his own fault really but he refused to acknowledge it), he would have to hold himself back from beating up the prince on stage for kissing the princess; which was his princess by the way, Ayano Tateyama.

Fake-kissing, stage-kissing, what the hell ever.

If it still looked like a kiss, then it had to be killed with fire.

He had automatically declined auditioning for a lead even when Ayano had, which was how they ended up here. So yes, it was his fault.

But as if he was getting up in front of all those people as a prince.

Anything that involved public speaking was really a no-no – not because he was scared, but because it was a complete and utter pain in the neck.

His simple lines of, "Where did you hear that, young sire?" and "I don't think anyone here is quite as worthy as you", were enough already.

And the costume. Oh, the costume. He didn't think any respectable male had ever felt this uncomfortable in tights, but he supposed he'd deal just for a day and just for Ayano.

God, that sparkle-eyed life ruiner.

"It's nothing like that, Your Majesty." Ayano's posed voice struck through the silence of the auditorium, a surprisingly good actress she was, and she leaned against the painted stairwell (Haruka had done a wicked good job with the props, bless his artistry) in dismay.

"Oh, but it is." The boy playing the prince took confident strides towards her, placing a steady palm on her cheek. "We have no other option but to fall together."

"That's not true… please just promise me this." From behind the painted castle, Shintaro noticed Ayano's eyes drifting towards his before she snapped back into character, smoothing down her long blue dress. "Swear on your heart you'll never forget me."

The prince smiled a bittersweet smile. "I couldn't possibly forget… someone like you, my love."

They leaned in, and the princess closed her eyes.

Alright, no more.

Everything moved in slow motion, and Shintaro found he couldn't stop himself from intervening, swiftly catching Ayano's lips in place of the prince. The audience gasped collectively.

Now this was a plot twist they hadn't expected.

The actor playing the prince recovered quickly, opting to improvise lest they butcher the play and dissatisfy the crowd. He was a true performer, Shintaro noted, he shouldn't have interrupted this man with no ill intentions.

But then again, no-one was allowed to kiss Ayano but him.

Also catching the girl by surprise was a lot of fun, he realised, and he would definitely do it again.

"Alas, my brother has taken my sweet in his arms."

"I'm afraid I too have fooled you so, Your Highness." Ayano clutched Shintaro's hand, moving as if she were in complete control. Sensing her trembling slightly, Shintaro cursed. He had caused a lot more problems than he thought.

Ayano was brave, but she had never had to improvise new lines in place of the lines she was already stressing over.

"It seems this time you have already forgotten."

"What could you mean by that?"

Shintaro coughed, taking it upon himself to share the burden. "This time is no longer yours, 'black snake'."

The prince hissed, intimidated. "But, but everything was perfect! I… and.. she and I were supposed to run away together! Be forgotten!"

"If you really are the outlaw 'black snake', Your Majesty, then you leave us no options."

"I guess this is the end."

Somehow or another, they survived the play with Shintaro's quick thinking and the prince's and Ayano's quick adaptation skills. Momo, whom he had not expected to show up, took it upon herself to congratulate her brother by bringing him soda which he pretty much inhaled and a massive bouquet for Ayano.

"Watch out, Ayano!" Momo laughed. "You might just end up falling for the other Kisaragi instead."

"Shut up, Momo!" Shintaro knocked Momo's head playfully, "You have enough people fawning after you. I didn't raise my sister to be a girlfriend-stealer."

"You didn't raise me at all!" She stuck her tongue out at him and bid them farewell.

Almost right after she had left, Ayano's siblings appeared and offered to take the bouquet home. They all tried to carry it individually, but it was too big for them to manage, so they carried it together.

"Aw, little Ayano is all grown up!" Kano chortled, prodding his elder sister in the sides.

Ayano swatted him away. "I'm older than you!"

Kenjirou passed by them and waved, giving Shintaro a suspicious look. He guessed Ayano still hadn't told him, but Ayano said her father didn't tell her much either so he guessed it was even.

"We're going to see the rest of the stalls since Seto didn't see them last time." Kido smiled up at Ayano and she patted her younger sister on the head.

"You enjoy yourselves then. Tell me how it goes!"

Left alone once again, Ayano turned to Shintaro.

"Now, what was that about? I almost had a heart attack when you kissed me!" She put her hands on her hips. "I thought it was Hiro actually kissing me which we didn't rehearse, and I was going to push you away and tell him I had a boyfriend already!"

"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Sorry, not sorry."

"And improvisation! I can't deal with that sort of thing, you know? Ahh, I was so nervous… I was freaking out…" Her gaze softened. "Say, were you jealous?"

"No." He snapped.

Yes, yes, he was very jealous. Unreasonably so, but undeniably jealous.

"Aw, I didn't think you were that kind of person."

"I wasn't jealous."

"It's kind of sweet."

"I said I wasn't …!"

Ayano pulled him into a hug mid-sentence, smiling warmly. "Yes, yes, I believe you."

"Go get changed." He grumbled, red tinting his cheeks.

"For you, darling." She fluttered her eyelashes at him and skipped away, leaving Shintaro wondering what the heck was going on.

Then again, it wasn't like he was complaining.

He finally got out of the blasted costume, dreading the return of it only hours later. The script writers gushed over the possibility of a new storyline and quickly edited the ending to fit the one they had created – so the possibility of stealing another kiss from Ayano was the only thing that kept him alive.

"You ready?" She slipped her hand into his casually, as if they had been doing it for months. He was a little ashamed that his face heated straight up again… this was the first time they had actually held hands where he didn't push her away.

Yeah, old Shintaro was a jerk.

He knew that now, and it wasn't love that was making him blind, but quite the opposite.

"Let's go see how Takane is doing."

Visiting Takane proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Not only were they stopped every few minutes by enthusiastic 'congratulations' or 'impressive performances', but the maid café itself was teeming with people.

The familiar chant of Takane's screen name spread through the crowds like wildfire, the same participants of last year's 'Headphone Actor' booth returning to visit the gaming prodigy, and cooing over her as if she were an object.

"Come here, Ene-chan!"

"Get lost…!"

Some were at least a little more decent, but Shintaro found himself a little put-off by these fans, and honestly it was a little sickening. Hey, but it could've also been the fact that a few of them were eyeing Ayano too and that was a big no-no.

The biggest no-no.

If he was a macho man, he would pound them into pulp.

Unfortunately, Shintaro knew he wouldn't be able to lay a finger on these men, especially by himself.

Still didn't stop him from shoving through and being disrespectful.

"Ene-chan…! I can defeat you now, I'm sure!"

"Leave me alone dammit, don't you see this isn't a gaming booth like last time?!"

Ayano and Shintaro finally reached and peered through the window to see Takane wearing a cloak over her dress and throwing trays at customers who got too close. The other maids milled about with the more peaceful customers, some offering to help but being shooed away by the livid senior.

"I'll protect you guys from these disgusting people." She had clipped to a particularly nervous maid. "Don't worry about me."

The maid nodded shyly, dashing off to prepare more crepes for the rowdy customers.

Shintaro didn't think much of it – Takane was often reckless but she did have a good heart – but looking back at Ayano, he could see the usually cheerful girl start to seethe.

Quickly putting two and two together, he pet Ayano once, grabbing her attention.

"Hey, don't stress, you idiot."

"I'm not stressing. I'm angry."

"Can you stop being angry?"

"No. We find food boy now."

Ahaha, Haruka was screwed.

* * *

><p>It actually wasn't too hard to find the boy, except for the fact that Ayano tripped down the stairs trying to get to him in a ninja way and Shintaro had to carry her for the rest of the way.<p>

Not that it was a bad thing or anything.

Manly points recovered by 2.

Haruka just about ran when he spotted them though, but Ayano had miraculously leapt out of Shintaro's arms and crashed into the frail boy, sending them both to the ground.

Shintaro looked on indifferently, but hell, he was worried. That could've hurt the both of them really badly.

"So." She began, standing up and leading Shintaro over to the boy on the ground. "I thought I gave you specific orders, young man."

Haruka cowered a little, "Ahm, yes, well…"

"So?"

"So…?"

Shintaro sighed. "Get your ass in gear, man. I'm starting to think you're more of an idiot than Ayano."

Said girl stepped on his foot. "In a nicer way of putting that, please go save Takane."

"Is she in trouble…?"

"She might be." Ayano twirled sassily, "But you wouldn't know that, now would you?"

Shintaro grinned. That's his girl.

Haruka seemed to take on a thoughtful look, before he stood up, taking a cookie from his pocket and munching it aggressively. The couple seemed taken aback, but he soon answered them.

"It's complicated." He sighed finally, lips turning up into a small smile. "You're great friends, but maybe it would be best if you didn't butt in…"

"If you'd stop avoiding this, we'd actually end up getting somewhere." Shintaro stated firmly, exchanging glances with Ayano. "The only reason why we're meddling is because you don't seem to know how to work it out for yourselves."

Haruka glanced at the ground, smile still lingering. "I already know she doesn't like me."

"Are you for real?"

"Yes, I…"

"Why don't you ask her directly?" Ayano chirped, holding out her hand. "Come on, we'll be with you every step of the way."

Shintaro nodded. Why not help a friend out? Now that he actually had friends, he felt his younger self jeer. _'You've become weak_.'

"It's not like that, you moron!"

Ayano and Haruka stared at him for his sudden outburst. Oh, whoops. Did he say that out loud?

Yeah, whoops.

And for once he thought he was finally free from the cage of social humiliation.

"Just talking to myself?" He offered uncertainly. "I'm uh, I'm with you Haruka. And Ayano. With you guys. Yeah. Team spirit."

His girlfriend shook her head but pulled Haruka forward. "We're here to make things right for you."

The boy laughed, "It's kind of like you two have become the parents now, huh?"

"Shove it Kokonose, we're helping you out of the kindness of our hearts." Shintaro rolled his eyes and walked ahead of them. There was a crashing of dishes as they approached the maid café, and after Ayano sent him a worried glance, he headed inside quickly, locating their friend in the mess.

Haruka followed quickly behind, held in place by Ayano. They weaved through the crowd as they heard another dish smash, and an all too familiar voice cutting through the noise.

"I DON'T LIKE HARUKA…!"

They all stopped in their tracks. Glancing up at the new arrivals, Takane froze.

"A-ah, Haruka, wait, I didn't mean-"

Wrenching his hand from Ayano's grip, the boy turned tail and ran.

Shintaro would have laughed were the situation not so dire that Ayano needed to hold onto him to steady herself and Takane bury herself under her cloak in a rolled up ball on the floor.

… Ahaha, oh no.

* * *

><p>It figured that as soon as one obstacle appeared, many more would follow. Shintaro supposed life was full of ups and downs but since he had never had much of a life before this, it really shouldn't be working this way. At least in his life. For him.<p>

Call him selfish, but that's just the way it was.

Word went around that they were together – Shintaro and Ayano, that is – and they didn't hear the end of it. Suddenly, people were actually interested in their lives and suddenly people actually wanted to be their friends and oh! What was this?

Suddenly people wanted to hang out with them on the weekends more than ever.

In separate groups.

Away from each other.

No, no, no, no, no. Shintaro had just about reached his limits with people and by the end of each school day, he just found himself more and more pissed off.

The socialising cup had been filled and overflowed and Shintaro just wanted to grab it and hurl it at the wall.

'Excuse me' and 'I'm sorry' turned into 'get away from me' and 'don't talk to me' real quickly.

Even though Ayano tried to be polite, he could see it starting to have an effect on her too, as she could rarely ever say good morning to him without being interrupted.

Waking up to go to school, he would be woken by a ringtone blaring and any over obnoxious voice of someone who had never even spoken to him in the past years they've known each other going 'ay Kisaragi, how's about karaoke on Friday night?' or 'Shintaro, you want to hear a story? It'll just take 3 hours of your time…"

Takane and Haruka were being the frustrating idiots of the century, and he didn't even know why he was so emotionally invested in helping Ayano mend their relationship but he was and it wasn't working and he didn't know what to do anymore.

It seemed this whole year was a burning cycle of new things for Shintaro to experience. Sometimes he wondered if it would be better to simply become a NEET and lock himself in his room.

But if he did that, he would have an even less of a chance of seeing Ayano and that in itself was hard to imagine.

The two idiots were not completely incompetent though, as they both noticed the lack of available interaction between Shintaro and his girlfriend and co-operated momentarily to lock them in the janitor's closet for what Takane dubbed 'social revive' and that was great.

They didn't do much, but it was nice to just sit and talk to Ayano in a dark, cramped space with no butthead trying to intrude on their conversation or pull them apart from each other.

Until they got cramps and tried to change positions but he just ended up falling on top of her.

Which was a-okay until Kenjirou opened the closet and found them like that and then banned him from the Tateyama household until Ayano could explain to him exactly what was going on and exactly 'what this Kisaragi delinquent thinks he's doing making a move on my dear sweet daughter when she's only 17 years old'.

"It was nothing, really dad. We just wanted some time alone and accidentally got locked in there…" She smiled angelically up at her father who found it hard to reprimand her any further.

"Time alone?" He inquired. "Accidentally, you say?"

"Yes, because even though we're such good friends… we barely get to hang out anymore." Her eyes fell and Kenjirou tried to stay calm and nodded as she continued, "Well, you could say someone locked us in. But we haven't the slightest idea who."

Sighing, the teacher started to walk away. "Of course, I trust you Ayano. But I'll have my eye on you from now on, Kisaragi."

"Okay, dad." Shintaro taunted and when Ayano laughed, Kenjirou just stormed away angrily.

That was pretty much all the interaction they had for the rest of the term.

When the winter holidays came around, he didn't know whether to be relieved or just dead tired of everything.

Ayano had made it a habit to text him regularly now, when she had something to report, so he wasn't surprised to receive a message mid-afternoon on the first day of the holidays.

'_Hey Shintaro, shall we go on another journey of recuperation?_'

Grinning like an idiot, he answered, '_A honeymoon already? Why, we haven't even gotten married._'

'_You haven't proposed._' Shintaro began to think he was rubbing off on her, but hey, that wasn't a bad thing. '_But no, unfortunately that is not what I meant…_'

'_Shoot. Where do you want to go?_'

'_An inn! A traditional one up in the mountains._' Even the way she typed was adorable.

He swivelled in his chair, typing this into the search on his computer. Multiple results came up, and also a vast array of images. Wow, expensive.

Then he replied, '_Alright. Who's coming?_'

'_The usual people. Maybe my parents too, if that's okay. I promise they'll stay out of the way._'

Fair enough, fair enough.

'_Wait, you want to bring Haruka and Takane?_'

'_Mhm! It'll be fine, don't worry. They'll at least have to act civil in front of my dad, or else he'll give them more holiday homework www_' Ayano seemed pleased, but Shintaro couldn't help but feel sorry for the duo and forcing them to follow with their antics. Oh well, they'd thank him later.

He was sure she could feel his indifference through the phone. '_If you're sure, then anything is fine._'

'_Then it's fine if we share a room, right?_'

Wait…

What?


	6. Winter Revival

**A/N: **Episode seven broke me. I am so broken. Why am I in this fandom, it would hurt less to fly straight into the sun- … I hope this heals. I sped-wrote this in hopes it would heal me. Look at those children. Together. _Happy._ HAPPY TOGETHER.

I've been broken.

On another note, someone please stop me, these chapters are getting longer and longer and I just- ah. WELL. Not giving anything away, but this fic might be ending soon! It's been a long ride for me, and I got the feeling it would go on forever but…

Anyway, if this ends, I'll definitely write another slice of life yuukei quartet eventually. I have a couple of other AUs I'd like to write though! And all my other time, I spend drawing so it's really a matter of balance haha. STOP ME I'M RAMBLING.

Also Shintaro reads shoujo manga-

* * *

><p>To further prove his theory that no-one could refuse Ayano, it seemed that not only did she manage to haul the dastardly disastrous Haruka-Takane pair to the mountains, but she also managed to convince Kenjirou to let them share a room <em>and <em>the innkeeper to give them an impromptu tour of the entire place.

Oh, and Shintaro to share a room with her. Believe it or not, Shintaro had literally been the first to refuse the offer – as he figured the more time he spent with Ayano, the more of an embarrassment to society he would become.

Like, yeah, he was sure he liked (read: loved) her more than anyone could ever get him to admit, but she _did things to him_. She probably didn't even realise but _she did things._

_Sparkle-eyed sunshine the first was deadly._

Alas, Shintaro never got his way anyway, so there was no point in arguing. This whole conversation was moot.

If Ayano wasn't some kind of divine being in secret, he didn't know what to think.

But even more stressful than thinking about how much power his girlfriend held in society, Shintaro had finally met both of her parents and both Ayaka and Kenjirou frankly scared him a little. A bit more than a little. A bit more than a little more than a little. But he digressed.

"Let's go have a 'talk', shall we?" Ayaka gestured for him to follow her, with Kenjirou close behind. Ayano was just spacing out since the tension in the air became so intense that it repelled her soul, and she sat between Haruka and Takane staring blankly into the distance.

'_Ayano, save me.' _Shintaro sent her a silent plea of help, but his telepathy unfortunately failed. Though he had met the parents, never did he ever have to admit to going out with their precious darling daughter.

"Well, loosen up, I trust you kiddo." Ayaka had grinned, nudging a disgruntled Kenjirou who grumbled under his breath "I don't."

Shintaro nodded cautiously. He still felt a sense of impending doom.

"Just promise you'll treat her right." Ayaka gave him two thumbs up, ready to end the conversation there before Kenjirou stopped her.

"Don't hurt her or I hurt you." There it was. The doom. And then some.

It was almost laughable the amount of mixed messages Ayano's parents had given him.

"Make her happy, okay?"

"Don't taint her or there will be blood."

"Oh yes! Make sure you tell her you love her every day."

"I will eventually kill you anyway."

"Shush, sweetheart. We don't want to scare him away."

Shintaro found himself nodding more nervously each time, especially when Ayaka gave him much too enthusiastic pats on the back (he fell over from the force) and Kenjirou shook his hand a little too hard (he felt like his fingers had been crushed), but he supposed he could see where Ayano got her spectacular traits from. They were good parents.

With a matching terrible fashion sense, Shintaro noted, what with all the stripes and the polka dots and the turtlenecks and the mittens and the gaudy hats, but good parents nonetheless.

When he was finally freed to return to the wild – the group, his group, his crew which awaited him – Ayano seemed to crawl under the table and attach to him as if she was already done with the two idiots who occupied the seats currently opposite.

"What exploded here?" Shintaro asked, already knowing the answer. "You all look terrible."

Haruka sighed for the umpteenth time since arriving, in the process unbuttoning his long navy jacket. "Thank you Shintaro."

"I don't want to room with him." Takane mumbled into her oversized sleeves. The artist averted his eyes, opting to stare straight at Shintaro instead; who was only slightly creeped out by the other boy's gaze. Haruka, please. Must you?

"But it's not like you have to share a bed or anything! We could ask the staff to find something." Ayano clapped her hands together, already dead-set on the rooming arrangement. "We did book under couple packages though, and I'm… well, no offence Haruka, but I would rather room with Shintaro…"

_Ayano-no-no. Talk about embarrassing. Had she no shame? _Shintaro felt his face flush involuntarily and he pulled his scarf up over his face. Yes, excellent. Now no-one would notice he was blushing.

The man-shield was up.

Haruka only laughed, "Oh, no, it's okay! You're together after all!" Tugging at his sleeves he added, "I don't mind rooming with Takane anyway. I think it'd be fun!"

"Haruka?!" Takane spluttered.

Shintaro resisted the urge to smash his head against the wall. He could already see it now – poot – a vision of the two idiot seniors just sitting and staring at each other the whole night and then Ayano would waltz in bright and early and ask how well they slept and with zombie voices they'd reply, 'fun'.

Fun.

… why aren't they together yet? One of the many mysteries of the world.

Peeking through his scarf-mask, Shintaro was faced with the sight of Ayano fully leaning over the table and staring Takane down.

'Ayano.' He thought forlornly, not willing to risk pulling her by force lest Kenjirou the hawk was watching. 'Feet on the floor. Not on the chair, dammit. Thank god you're not wearing a skirt. You have nice legs though. No. Wait. Shit. I didn't mean- Thank god I'm just talking to myself. Hi me. Shut up, me. Thank you.'

"It's okay, right? He says he doesn't mind so… please, Takane?"

"No. D-don't do the face, Ayano. Don't. No-one can say no to the face."

One look at Ayano told them all that she was indeed doing 'the face'. And invading personal space, but he figured Takane just had a lot more things on her mind than her friend's close proximity.

"Takane…! Come on, please? If not for you, then for me…?"

Hang on a second. It took effort to stop ogling Ayano like a hopeless idiot, but Shintaro let his gaze fall on Takane, who was furiously glaring at the table and holding her massive sleeves to her chest.

"Hey, isn't that Haruka's sweater?"

The observation seemed innocent enough, but as soon as Shintaro spoke the words, Haruka dove under the table and Takane curled up and hid herself completely in the pale blue sweater.

Eh, whoops.

Ayano squealed, "Oh, it. That. It is, it is!"

"It's not!" The accused pair shouted. Shintaro felt Haruka shuffling under the table and kicked him. Lightly, of course. Kicking him any harder could lead to complications Shintaro did not want.

Takane's glare not included. He got that for free anyway.

The genius peered under the table, "What are you doing down there then?"

Haruka laughed nervously, "No reason! I just thought I dropped something, hahaha…"

"Right. You dropped something called 'common sense'."

At this, Ayano nudged Shintaro with her shoulder, pulling him back to ground level. "Don't be mean to him!" Smiling, she sat down properly on her chair – finally, though some inner force within him urged him to place his arm around her shoulders – and tilted her head to the side. "You know what… we'll let it go."

Takane looked up, wary, "Really?"

"On one condition." Shintaro added, and Ayano seemed to notice his hand on her shoulder. Yeah, the stretching was real subtle. He was almost proud of himself when-

She kissed the tips of his fingers quickly and he retracted his hand faster than Takane rage-quitted QWOP or Flappy Bird. Never let your guard down. Never ever. Ever. Even when you think you're in control, you're not.

Ayano always wins. She had got to have some life hack that enabled her to always win- oh yeah. Fabulous social skills and moral values. She had that. Those. Them. Yeah.

At least he was smarter. And that's about where all his good traits end.

When Takane shot him a weird look, he mimed dying on the table.

"Yes, one condition." Ayano flicked her red scarf over her shoulder, completely unfazed by Shintaro's overreaction. "Room with Haruka."

"Ah, that's… all? Then, I suppose-" Takane seemed fairly settled but at Shintaro's next statement, she threw her bag at his face.

"And you have to share the bed."

Then they all heard Haruka hit his head on the bottom of the table.

"Ow…"

"Dude, you okay?"

* * *

><p>After pretty much an entire day on public transport, no-one was quite in the mood to do anything but wash up and head straight for bed. The adults had disappeared early on exchanging sly glances and quirky hand movements, and at Shintaro's teasing remarks, Ayano blanched and dragged him off into their shared room and demanded Haruka and Takane to do the same.<p>

Takane was on the edge the entire time. It wasn't as if she didn't want to sleep with Haruka but… the atmosphere was just…

"Well, I didn't bring much to unpack… so … how do you want to do this?"

"You go first. Clean up, and splash your face." He smiled at her, kind and sweet. "You'll feel better, I promise."

Haruka had honestly no problems with order, but he and Takane (reluctantly) agreed that Takane should go first.

The main reason was that if he went she'd probably fall asleep during that time and not wake until 3am in the morning or some other stupid ungodly hour of the morning. Yes, the pleasures of being a narcoleptic.

It was fine, Haruka reasoned. Her sleeping disorder should be the least of their problems. They came to have fun, after all.

"Ow, shit! Shit, shit, is that blood?"

"Takane, are you okay?"

Haruka rushed to the door of the bathroom in their room, dropping his sketchbook and reaching for the handle before her urgent voice stopped him from opening the door.

"Don't come in, I'm not decent!"

The boy halted, worried. He didn't want to intrude, but if Takane was hurt then…

"Um, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

About to leave it alone, he turned around when there was a crash of something, or multiple things, falling down in the bathroom.

"Shit!"

"Are you sure you're-"

"Haruka Kokonose." Takane's voice was pointed when pronouncing his name, supposedly harsh, but the boy only found it endearing. "Step away from the door. I am not wearing clothes. Don't come in. Simple. Instructions."

Nodding immediately, he stepped away from the door. "Okay, but… if you're hurt, tell me, alright?"

"J-just shoo!"

"Okay! Okay! Shooing!"

Picking his sketchbook back up, he retreated to the bed and began to draw. He seemed to have lost his muse though, and all his sketches came out wrong. Dammit, he was worried.

Takane always worried about him, and he hated making her worry but it seemed completely fine the other way around. He supposed he just wanted to protect her, and cherish her without reason, without doubt.

Even now, he was still unsure what it was he felt towards Takane, but if you called it 'love', he couldn't say you were wrong.

Not long after she had sent him away, Takane's quiet voice filtered out from behind the door. "Um, Haruka…?"

"Yes?"

"Can… you call Ayano?"

He didn't want to be jealous of Ayano. But he supposed somewhere deep down, he knew he was. Everyone seemed to rely on the young girl as if she were the centre of the universe – and yes, she was a wonderful friend, but he just- Takane was –

Haruka needed to sort himself out.

"Eh? Ayano? Um, sure…" Haruka pursed his lips. "Before I go, can I help in any way?"

"No… no, it's okay."

"Okay."

When would Takane start relying on him to help her? He didn't want to blame his weak body for this but… he… retrieving the key, he started on his trip to Ayano and Shintaro's room.

It really was such a bother.

* * *

><p>Ayano was sitting at the foot of the bed when Shintaro had finally emerged from the bathroom, now showered and fully refreshed though his tired eyes didn't seem to want to go away.<p>

She had changed into a pastel sweater and skirt, picking at the frills on the edge of her skirt. He was simply wearing a black t-shirt and grey jeans; boring, yes, but he didn't get out quite enough to buy more trendy clothes anyway.

He was about to ask her what they were going to do now when she spoke up, "Hey Shintaro, do you like my socks?"

His eyes flickered to her legs; knee high black socks with a cat print design. Aww.

"They're okay."

"Really?" She stretched her legs out and kicked a little. "I thought you'd like them…"

"Yeah, they're okay." _They're not as cute as you. Also that's a pretty short skirt._ No. No, no, shut up. Shintaro, stop staring, you- stop. STOP. LOOK UP.

There were a few moments of silence before Ayano suddenly jumped up and tossed something at him.

"Shintaro, catch!"

"Whoa…!" Something hot smacked him in the face and went clattering to the floor. "Oi! I failed P.E. for a reason!"

Ayano giggled, "But we're only two meters apart."

"You took me by surprise." He mumbled. Yeah, right. He could throw okay at least, but really couldn't catch anything for shit. Bending down, he picked up the object – a can, as it seemed – realising that it was hot to touch and dropped it again.

"Gosh darn it."

This only made Ayano laugh harder, though bless her, she was laughing into a pillow so it wasn't as obvious. It was still pretty obvious though, you couldn't mistake Ayano's laugh for anything. It was like a sweet, baby puppy bark, raising in pitch when she got happy.

All in all, just like he's repeated constantly and will repeat forever; adorable. In a stupid way. Ayano was stupidly adorable.

Placing the hot can on the desk – it was hot cola, much kisses and love from inner Shintaro to Ayano's virtue of consideration – he approached her with a scheming grin crawling onto his face.

"You'll have to pay for that."

She paused in her giggles, tapping her own cheek. "Oh, you have a red mark there. It kind of looks like someone slapped you…"

"Ayano, how could you."

Rolling onto the bed, he started to tickle her sides and Ayano was sent straight back into peals of laughter. Huh, she was more ticklish than he thought. Cute, cute, cute.

"Oh my god! Stop!" He didn't. There would never be a chance like this again, once he got off this high and reverted back to the cold and cool Shintaro.

Yeah, first attempt at that didn't work but Winter came every year so that was kind of like having an annual chance to prove his own coolness and he felt like this was the year to redeem himself from the uncool. A whole year since he let the 'I love you' slip at the supermarket.

No more.

Cold and cool once more. Hell to the yeah. Ayano would be falling for him all over again.

He would just have to enjoy this dorkiness while it lasted. God, he was such an embarrassment. Sentimental fool.

"Do you yield, Ayano?"

"Shintaro, please!"

"Does it hurt?"

"No, but-pffff- ah, Shintaro, stop!"

There was a knock at the door, once, twice, before they both realised that they probably needed to get it.

Ayano sat up first, but Shintaro stopped her. "I'll get it."

He opened the door to face Haruka, who had his hand posed to knock again. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but turning slightly red, he looked like he changed his mind.

"Oh! I'm sorry for interrupting!"

"Whatever. What's up?"

"Well, Takane was asking for Ayano so if you didn't mind…"

"Yeah?" Shintaro cupped his mouth to call into the room behind him. "Ayano! Maid girl needs your overbearing love and affection!"

"Don't bring that up again!" A voice answered, and fabric rustling could be heard. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

She twirled out into the doorway, and when they looked back, the boys noticed she had remade the bed. Shintaro tried not to laugh; thank god she hadn't seen what a mess his room was back at home. Even his mother had given up on getting him to make his bed.

"Hello Haruka!" She greeted the tall boy, "Take me to your leader."

"Hi." Haruka grinned warmly. "Gladly."

Yawning, Shintaro dropped the keys down the back of Ayano's shirt and walked back into the room. "If you need me, you know where to find me."

"Shintaro!" The girl in turn jumped in surprise and fumbled with the keys, shaking them out of her shirt. "Ah… you…come back here!"

"No can do. I need to re-unite with my computer after an entire eight hours without it. You two carry on."

"Shintaro!" She frowned, though Shintaro only found it made her cuter. What was it? 'Hilariously adorable'? Yeah, first impressions were accurate.

"Go forth, minion."

"Shintaro!" Though she repeated his name, he knew she wasn't mad at him. The good thing about Ayano was that she was chill as heck, and wouldn't hold grudges for days (cough Takane cough). "Remember to drink before it gets cold."

He glanced at the soda. "Will do. Just go already. Your girl's waiting."

"Come on, Haruka!" He heard their thundering footsteps fade, and hoped she hadn't killed Haruka on the short trip back to his room.

Once safely settled into the desk chair, Shintaro glance at the drink. Well, okay then. Popping open the tab, he hadn't expected it to spurt upwards and go everywhere; thank god it didn't scald him but ugh, that was not good for his heart.

Oh come on, now he'd have to shower again.

He would get Ayano back for that. Even though it was his fault, he would get her back.

In a cute way, of course.

But cute as in something to make him feel manly again, that was all. Punching a wall apparently didn't do the trick, it just really hurt.

He needed the man points bad.

Because he didn't just scream over the death of a soft drink, oh no, of course not.

* * *

><p>"Um, wait…" Haruka stopped the cheerful girl before they entered his and Takane's room. "I'm really sorry for interrupting you guys before, okay? I forgot… that you were, um…"<p>

Ayano blinked, confused. "Why would it be a problem? You're our friend, and so it Takane and you can come call us anytime, you know."

"But you two were … those sounds…"

"Hm? We just finished showering, so we weren't really busy, if that's what you were worrying about…"

Turning the key, it looked as if Haruka only got more flustered. "No, but…"

"Wait… what did you think we were doing?"

Haruka didn't reply, but he smiled sheepishly and walked into the room with stiff motions.

It took Ayano a few seconds, before she gasped loudly. "Ohhh. Wow, aha, you got a dirty mind. I didn't think you were that kind of person, Haruka!"

The artist laughed nervously. Well, Ayano was never going to see those certain sketchbooks of his, so he was relatively safe. Takane definitely wasn't going to see them. It was just for practice, he swore. "My mistake."

The girl crossed her arms. "It was just a tickle fight, and that was all."

He nodded, raising his arms as a sign of surrender.

"Takane, I brought her." Haruka was startled when he heard a wail from the bathroom. "Takane? Takane, are you-"

Ayano seemed to go full-on mission mode and pushed him aside, taking long strides to the bathroom. "Don't worry, I've got this."

Before he could reply, she slipped into the bathroom and shut the door.

Kneeling on the floor was Takane, clad in a t-shirt and shorts since the inn heating was hot as hell in Winter, as it seemed. Ayano noted her legs had been loosely bandaged and panicked for a moment when she realised the girl must have hurt herself.

She didn't protest when Ayano sauntered in and gave the girl a hug though, which Ayano took as a good sign. "Takane?"

"I fucking hate being a girl." At least she knew the injury was the least of her problems.

Sitting next to her, Ayano nodded in understanding. "Ah, I know the feeling. You got yourself covered?"

Takane groaned. "Yeah, but… I feel like shit right now, like, I wouldn't be surprised if I just started crying or fuck. I'm crying."

Ayano pulled the other girl to her chest. "There, there… I am here for moral support. I'll get you chocolate later."

"Thanks, Ayano."

"What are friends for?" They exchanged smiles, though Takane was a mess. Ayano's expression suddenly took a more mischievous look though, as she pulled her senior to her feet. "Hey, Takane. You should take advantage of this opportunity."

"What? Fuck, I'm crying here, what do you want me to do-"

"Shh. I got this." She patted the older girl on the head and moved to leave the bathroom.

"I don't trust that- oi, Ayano, what are you doing?"

"Trust me." Ayano smiled, tapping a finger to her lips. "If all goes well, you might just thank me."

Exiting the bathroom, she was met with a frantic Haruka who jumped as soon as he saw her.

"How is she?"

"Not dead, relax." The brunette put a hand to her hips, it looked like they just needed a bit more pushing. "But she's in tears, bleeding, and she thinks you hate her."

Now that spurred a reaction.

It's not like she was lying or anything. She wasn't Kano, as precious as that child was, he was a compulsive liar and would probably be the type to pull things like this but…

Okay, fine. But this was one time. And it was for the good of humanity.

"Oh my god…" She almost felt bad when she noticed Haruka tear up, but before she could take anything back, he darted into the bathroom and all but squashed Takane in a tight embrace, the former blushing through her tears like there was no tomorrow.

"Takane, no!"

"W-what the hell!?"

"Takane, noooo…"

"H-haruka, get off…! Mph, hey! Are you okay?!"

"Takaneee…"

"W-w-what is it?"

Discreetly, Ayano went and shut the door and exited. If there was no progression after she returned with chocolate, she would be very, very displeased.

* * *

><p>"Shintaro, let's go out."<p>

It wasn't as if he didn't expect her to return, but when Ayano entered so soon after she left; he instinctively closed all his tabs and checked the time. Just instinct. From all the times his mother and Momo had intruded without notice. That was it.

He wasn't about to cry at the part where his favourite character confessed, what are you talking about? It was a beautiful scene though, he had to admit.

Also go out…? Now?

"Ayano, it's 10pm."

She huffed, sitting on the arm of his chair and putting his computer on sleep.

"Let's go."

"Can't this wait until tomorrow?" Shintaro knew she wasn't going to take 'no' as an answer, as she was already tugging on his sleeve to get him out of the really comfortable chair. "What did Takane want, by the way?"

"No." Ayano did the thing where she wide-eye pouted and oh no, he was screwed. "Nothing. We're going out."

"Yes we are." He couldn't resist the urge to sass her. If she was going to do this to him, he had to have some rebellion. "We've been going out for a while now, in case you didn't get the memo."

She was now pulling him out the door with no hesitation, ignoring his comment. "Do you like scary movies, Shintaro?"

Oh, come on. That was unfair.

"Okay, let's go. Where are we going?"

She hesitated, and he watched her eyes suddenly start to sparkle (or maybe that was his imagination, shhhh).

"On a date."

"At 10pm?"

"…. Ehehe, who needs sleep anyway?"

They ended up going to a convenience store just nearby, where Ayano apparently thought it was a good idea to buy her weight in confectionary and shushed him by sticking a cola gummy into his mouth every now and then.

It wasn't really a date-date, but it was hard to stay mad at her when she seemed to enjoy herself so much. Shintaro knew that from the manga he read that often the hero or heroine would feel this way simply hanging out with their love interest but he didn't believe it until now.

It was a really nice feeling.

Ayano seemed content carrying all the bags too, and jokingly remarked she could carry him too before he chased her laughing all the way back to the inn in the snow.

He wished he could be her one and only. He really did suck at this whole relationship thing, commence loud sighing.

Glancing at his watch, he realised it was nearing midnight.

"Hold on, Ayano." He breathed, panting from the exercise. Boy, was he a fool in school for cutting gym.

Ayano simply smiled. "You look like you've seen better days."

"Just stand still."

Ayaka had said 'everyday', right?

Even so, he knew he was just making excuses now. It was a manly way of saying he needed to let out more love and affection.

Ayano had obeyed, as natural as her instinct to be nice was, waiting for him to catch his breath. Standing up straighter, Shintaro got closer and put his face in her hair.

Giggling, Ayano patted his cheek. "What are you doing?"

He mumbled something, but she couldn't quite catch it though he moved positions to another part of her head. It was three words. Not that hard, you nerd.

How is it that he could slip it by so easily before and yet now it was so damn difficult?

"Shintaro?"

He brushed his lips softly against her head, letting the ice melt with his warm face.

"I'm eating snow off your hair." He muttered. "Stop moving."

This only caused Ayano to shudder in puzzled laughter. "Why are you eating snow off my hair?"

"Stop moving." He felt his face grow hot. This idea was much better in his head. "I just… don't want you to catch a cold. Because wet hair equals cold."

"Eh? But-"

Figuring that he couldn't embarrass himself any further, he kissed her on the forehead and ran inside, "There. Done. I-I'll see you upstairs."

Ayano touched her forehead gently, smiling fondly after the boy.

"I love you too, Shintaro."

* * *

><p>Haruka and Takane had been in the bathroom for ages, though neither of them seemed to want to move. Haruka had not let go of her, but they had repositioned so she was sitting in his lap and not being crushed under his body weight.<p>

Not that he was that heavy, Takane grumbled, she was just weak. Not that she'd ever admit that to Shintaro, what a jerk.

Haruka on the other hand, had been _this _close to kissing all the tears off Takane's face and smothering her with kisses and licking her face (don't ask, but it was tempting) that he had to turn them around so he … didn't. He didn't want to risk losing her just as their friendship was starting to come back to life again.

Innocently, Takane clung to Haruka without the knowledge of his strange thoughts, only knowing that this was a moment she absolutely didn't expect but didn't want to ruin either.

"You're like radiating heat." She whispered, taking in his scent.

"So are you."

It was nice though. Haruka was warm and fluffy and sweet and patient and she just… felt like she was going to start crying again at just how much she didn't deserve this guy. Yet here he was, whispering "I 'm right here for you, it's the most fun when we're doing things together, I missed you, I'm sorry about everything, I could never hate you, you're very important to me, I need you" over and over because he _knew_.

Life was so cruel to such a kind human being.

"Haruka… you're an idiot."

"Hahaha, thank you, Takane!"

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"I'm just happy." His expression was so sincere that she felt the need to burn herself for ever doubting him. "You make me really happy."

And for hurting him, that would cost her 9 lives she didn't have.

Burn them all.

"Y-yeah? Well, you're still an idiot."

He wasn't particularly perceptive, but when Takane vented her frustrations on him, he listened and even when she cursed Shintaro and Ayano and all the things they both know she didn't mean, he still listened.

Whether she prattled on about a new game or about the events she was excited about, he always listened without fault.

Even when she didn't say anything, he listened.

To her heartbeat, to her silent headphones, to her insecurities, to her denying her legitimately obvious feelings for him, he listened.

What an idiot.

She loved him so freaking much.

Smiling, Haruka wiped away the last of her tears. "Do you feel better now?"

"I do. Thanks to you."

He nuzzled her shoulder, "I'm glad we got to talk, Takane. I really didn't know what to do without you."

She felt her face glow red, and her words were suddenly stunted. "Y-you, yeah. You too, I mean. You are. Great. You're amazing. I can't even explain how amazing you are."

"Haha, oh, it's not that. I just… I think I love-"

Haruka sighed again, though it was a relieved sigh this time. It looked like Takane had finally run herself to exhaustion and fell asleep on him. Judging by the soft breaths and small smile on her face, she was already having pleasant dreams.

He tried to lift her, but found it was a bit of a struggle since he wasn't used to lifting things – let alone people. Ah, well, he'd manage somehow.

"Good night, Takane." He pecked her cheek lightly, smiling to himself. "Sweet dreams."

* * *

><p>Once Ayano had caught back up to him, Shintaro had slowed to watch her antics with the mass of plastic bags she had accumulated from their trip to the convenience store.<p>

She had tiptoed past her parents' room, placing a box of variety biscuits and cookies out in front of the door and he didn't know if he was surprised or not when she dumped an intense pile of candy and chocolate outside Haruka and Takane's room on her detour.

Wiping her forehead – her forehead! He screamed on the inside – she grinned and finally returned to their room, Shintaro having waited for her at the door until she finished. He wasn't whipped, shut up.

"Let's play one more game until we go to sleep, okay?"

"No."

"Shintaro, we're playing a game!"

And goodbye sensible Shintaro, it looked like he wasn't getting out of this. He was so, so whipped it wasn't even funny anymore.

"Have you heard of the pocky game?"

_Had he ever. _He didn't think there was anyone who hadn't heard of it, but that was a big claim to judge by. Nodding, he shrugged.

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

Funny because how could someone actually _miss _when playing the pocky game, but he did just that. He poked her cheek with the stick and she had the gall to laugh.

It just really wasn't his day. Then again, when was it?

Raise your hand if you want a day where Shintaro doesn't screw something up while Ayano is watching.

Yeah, that's what he thought.

Slotting two more sticks into his mouth, he raised an eyebrow challengingly at her.

"Hard mode." He said through his teeth. "Best of three."

Ayano applauded softly. "Sounds like fun…"

Then she took the ends of the biscuits in her mouth and gazed at him, "So, normal rules?"

"Mhm."

The thing about Ayano was that she was surprisingly competitive, and it showed at opportune moments such as these. She caught him this time, initiating a quick kiss which stunned him before pulling away and producing four sticks from the packet.

"Still up for more?"

"Yeah, okay. Come at me."

He didn't care if they were being disgustingly romantic. This was their first relationship and they were going to make the most of it. He enjoyed this kind of story anyway; it was much like the shitty fanfics he read when one member of his otps died.

Also, free food.

What a time to be alive.

They had easily finished the box of Pocky between them, and before Ayano could enthusiastically suggest another unnecessary time waster, Shintaro spoke up.

"It's getting late, we should go to bed…"

Ayano squinted at the clock before bouncing onto the bed. "I didn't even notice… wow, good night."

"Wait, what?"

She pulled the blankets right up to her neck, not even bothering to get changed or brush her teeth and closed her eyes. Seeing as he wouldn't get anything out of her now, Shintaro went to switch off the lights.

It was hard sleeping next to Ayano, it really was. She had dropped out like a light just like that, and he assumed she was well past exhausted already but determined to stay up to spend time with him.

She was really the best person ever. How could someone care so much about other people and just… it was selfish but Shintaro soon wished she had stayed awake and he had fallen asleep first.

Now he was laying there in the dark, unmoving, but unwilling to fall asleep.

He just couldn't sleep, dammit. Not when she was right there. Next to him. Next to his face. Next to everything on his face.

Or his neck, when he tried turning around, but that was worse.

Figures she'd continue doing things to him even while she was asleep.

What a loser.

He could feel her breathing they were so close and oh god, oh god, this was why he absolutely did not want to do this.

Why, Ayano, why.

He was glad his thoughts at least stayed pure, and that he was blessed with the sight of her angelic sleeping face. First of all, he'd like to thank Ayaka and Kenjirou Tateyama for spawning such a beautiful girl… and second of all, he'd like to thank Ayano Tateyama for-

"Shintaro…" She mumbled, shuffling closer to him.

"W-what?"

He didn't get a reply, so he assumed she was merely sleep-talking. Either way, he knew his face must have been beet red by now, and he lay still, waiting to see what would happen.

It was embarrassing how easily he got embarrassed, really. He was just an embarrassment. One day someone will search 'embarrassment' in the dictionary, and his name would be there in big, bright, red letters.

Just staring at the ceiling quickly lost its merit. He was beginning to get a little sleepy.

Soon, as the clock struck 2, he felt his eyes start to close and he began to drift into unconsciousness. He was too tired to care anymore.

In the morning, he'd find them both tangled together, cuddling like a newlywed couple and blushing so hard someone could cook an egg on their faces.

But for now, he would let sleep take him, and pleasant dreams of flower fields and dancing and chocolate and sheep patterned paper were soon to come.


	7. Winter Awakening

**A/N: **I'm so sorry for not replying to reviews! I'm trying but I forget things easily… I will definitely get to them all once I'm finished with this story though! I'm sorry… um, um, thank you to um..! New paragraph ;;

Okay, okay wow help me I'm going to cry: **Alice39, KidTantei, FluffyMcPuff, Fox of Spades, Kazashi-4, MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan, I Tried To Judge But Failed, Ai shadow-chan, Dajare, C2H6Ethane, Hunter In The TARDIS, GoLdensummertime, Are all the names used, Myn47, Icy Cubes, LifeLongOcean, PinkHugsandKisses143, shin-shin-to, Dr-J33, Hkari Ai, Errinenrungun, Kokoro7489, ChocolatoAlliance, Miyagino 'Mikura' Asagura** and all the guests, thank you from the bottom of my heart (and sternum)! ;o; Drown in my tears- I MEAN NO. DON'T.

Just.. I'm just going to stop talking now.

* * *

><p>"Good morning, boys and girls! You all look great! Let's have another good day today, shall we?" Ayaka mimed using her spoon as a microphone as she stood on a chair to address their little group – and Shintaro could see exactly where Ayano got her weird-ass traits from.<p>

Not that he loved her any less but he didn't let his thoughts dwell on it any longer. He assured himself he could fill his thoughts with something other than Ayano; a feat that was somewhat difficult nowadays and he didn't want to think why.

What? A man's got his pride, and he doesn't want to admit that the one weakness of the all powerful Shintaro was that gunner of a girl.

Kenjirou kind of just grumbled from behind his wife, and groggily shuffled off to get more food. It seemed Mr. Tateyama was not a morning person, and Shintaro couldn't help but feel a temporary kinship with the man for sharing his non-morning-person-ness.

Ayano saluted her mother like the little soldier she was, "It's our duty to have a good day!"

When no-one replied, she made Shintaro salute himself before skipping off to pile pastries onto her plate. God, she was so cute.

Okay, so just going right past the earlier early morning events (Shintaro didn't think he could look Ayano in the eye for another month after that but here they were, an hour later sharing waffles), the pair soon found themselves eating breakfast across from an energetic Ayaka and a talkative Kenjirou.

Haruka and Takane were… somewhere, and Shintaro suspected they had simply gone to find a bigger table to satisfy Haruka's immense eating necessities. That boy's stomach defied the laws of every biological theory out there, and Shintaro had stopped questioning it after the last time they dared Haruka to eat out an entire restaurant.

Because he did. Every single thing.

"So how close were you two last night?" Prodded Kenjirou, while waving a fork dangerously close to Shintaro's face. "50cm? 20cm? Give me an estimate."

Ayano laughed, and continued nibbling on her half of the croissant, apparently leaving Shintaro to answer the question. Dammit, Ayano, control your father.

Shintaro was stupidly slow to reply, hoping he didn't sound too suspicious. He was very good at sounding suspicious, actually. He was a naturally very suspicious person and he suspected his mother brought him and Momo up in suspiciousland.

"Uh… like. A … metre." He managed, avoiding eye contact with either of the parents. "Away. Far away."

Far away as in… not like right up next to each other, practically nose-to-nose, _noooo. _Even inner Shintaro had agreed this was not a subject to mess with – and kept quiet through the whole ordeal. That was a first, he breathed a sigh of relief, he was sure he'd start rambling about how nice Ayano smelled if they had given him the chance.

And he sure as hell did _not _want to be doing that.

"Oh, yes. I definitely believe you." Kenjirou chuckled darkly and even Ayaka grinned at this, as she whacked her husband on the shoulder declaring, "A metre, he says. A whole metre!"

"Ye… yeah…" Shintaro just wanted to hide in a hole. Goodbye world. Goodbye Shintaro. "A metre is correct. Right up to 100cm. That's exactly right."

Kenjirou readjusted his glasses. "You measured with your hands?"

"Uh, yeah…?"

"You touched my precious daughter with your hands-"

"That's not what I said!"

Ayaka patted her husband on the head. "Relax, relax. Shintaro is a good boy!"

Shintaro found himself grinning stiffly, and probably somewhat creepily as Kenjirou could only glare at him under the supervision of his bubbly wife. Ayano was having fun drowning her pancakes so she didn't seem to notice his struggles.

Kenjirou eyed him cautiously throughout the whole meal.

"So you're sure you were a metre away?"

He shrugged carelessly, "More or less."

"So you weren't a metre away?"

"It's not like I thought to measure…"

"What happened to 'exactly 100cm'?"

Shintaro screamed on the inside. How was he supposed to answer these questions anyway? His brain was pretty much broken after the shock of waking up beside her already. This interrogation scene was way too out of place for him to absorb anyway.

His mind simply kept chanting; _Save me, Ayano._

* * *

><p>The snow had piled up heavily during the night, and judging by the volume of his Pikachu-sneezes Shintaro felt a cold coming on. Why was <em>he<em> the one that always got sick? And why was his sneezing so embarrassing?

The first time he had sneezed in front of them, Ayano had full out rolled off her chair giggling and Takane just died of laughter while Haruka only attempted a sympathetic smile. He did not want to relive that ever, ever again.

Glancing over at Ayano running around in her skirt, long brown coat and boots combination and Takane and Haruka in casual outfits not unlike their winter school uniform, he sighed loudly (between another sneeze). They all had the good ignorant-of-weather anime genes, apparently.

"This sucks…"

No, it was not because he didn't spend enough time outdoors. He was a strong, healthy teenager that was just susceptible to common illnesses and that was that.

"What sucks? You being ungrateful over there, Kisaragi?" Came a sharp voice as he was pelted with a snowball. Takane twirled out of the way as he aimed a sloppy one straight back at her. "You got the friends. You got the girl. You got the funky sneezes. What more could you want?"

He ignored her and hit Haruka instead, an easier target with more surface area, the older boy wincing slightly from the impact.

"Wow, Shintaro, you packed a lot of power in that one." Haruka commented dryly but not unkindly, as he patted the snow off himself. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine." He muttered. _Mate, control your girlfriend._ _Or non-girlfriend. Control your people. _"Just fine."

The other shot him a smile, before hastily padding out of the way of one of Ayano's surprisingly fast snowballs. Ayano had apparently constructed a snowball pyramid while they were talking, and was currently the most armed of the four. Shintaro was quick to dodge them also, dropping to the ground as if guns were being fired.

Hey, they could've said there were. Ayano was practically a gun, right? Sort of? … no?

"Attack!" Seeing the boys flee from her, Ayano had taken to chasing Takane around with an armful of snowballs, scolding the girl for 'playing unfairly' and something about 'last night' and 'are you serious' and yeah, Shintaro was lost but it was funny so he didn't care.

Takane seemed adamant in fighting back though, even when Ayano had caught her straight in the face and even after Ayano had run Shintaro over trying to get to her (which hurt, by the way, if he wasn't too busy staring at her pretty, smiling face, goddamn he was so whipped).

But it was even more fun watching the peppy girl run her senior straight into Haruka and the boy then enveloping her in a big hug without hesitation. Takane lit up like a christmas light.

"Whoa!" Pressing his hands to Takane's face, Haruka called out to the other two. "Come feel! Takane's face is really hot! She's like a human heater!"

"I'll pass." Shintaro replied airily, finding more amusement in the girl's reddening face.

Takane bristled, pushing Haruka's hands away. "Can you _not_?!"

From the other side, Ayano ran up and pressed her palms to the older girl's cheeks. "Wah… they're so warm!"

Takane bumped her friend off gruffly, and started to walk away, her face still tinted red. "I'm gonna go get food! See you guys later."

"But we just ate?" Shintaro said; more a question than a statement. How much did an average person consume again? They had literally just finished breakfast? How was she already hungry?

Unfortunately, Shintaro was ignored. He would have to live with these unanswered questions forever.

Haruka seemed to practically glow with delight at the mention of food though, typical of the jubilant 18-year-old, and bounded after Takane. "I'm coming with you!"

"Have fun!" Ayano cheered, balancing on a random log she had found. Shintaro had the sneaking suspicion she had knocked a tree down while he wasn't looking – but that may have just been his overactive imagination. God, he was high when he was sick.

"Hey, Shintaro! Watch this!"

He nodded, yes, he was watching. The antics of humans were so strange.

"Wait, don't watch yet! Uhh, er, turn around for like five seconds!"

He obeyed, with a meek shrug. His own human was very strange. Wait, what even were his thoughts – if he had a train of thought, it had probably crashed and wiggled on its own at the end of the track. He was way too tired to be outside at the moment.

Then again, if he had the choice, he usually didn't leave his bed until at least 1 in the afternoon so he really couldn't argue.

When he returned his line of focus to her, she grinned, waving at him. "Okay, okay! I'm going to—ah…!"

"Ayano!"

Ayano slipped suddenly, arms flailing, and Shintaro practically had a heart attack. He knew even his superb reflexes (oh sorry, what superb reflexes, excuse me) couldn't catch her in time. She had been too far away from him, and upon losing balance, she had fallen straight into the icy river behind her.

"Oh my god Ayano, are you okay?"

He would've laughed at her throwing him a peace sign when she resurfaced, if he wasn't so _damn scared _for her safety. She could've _died_. In the… water. In the _cold _water.

Yeah, he was officially high and officially freaking out.

It took all his effort to stay out of the river, and wait for her to swim to shore. Thank god she could swim, because he knew he was terrible at it.

"Ehehe… whoops." Ayano coughed daintily as she rose from the water, dripping wet. Practically tripping over his own shoes in panic, Shintaro climbed over the log to help her up.

"Are you okay? Are you breathing? Are you alive?"

Her teeth were chattering, but other than that, Ayano seemed relatively unfazed. "Sh-shintaro, c-calm down-"

"Do you need water? A fire? Food?"

"Sh-shintaro, I'm f-fine-"

"Do you need any-" Shintaro brushed some of her wet hair out of her face, "Shit. You're cold."

She nodded quickly, "Y-yes, well, I just fell into the r-river-"

"You're way too cold. Here, take my jacket."

"But Shintaro!"

"Take yours off first, no, hang on. We're going back inside."

"Shintaro, it's fine!"

"What body temperature is indicative of hypothermia?"

"Shintaro, it's just water!"

"What is mmph-" He was cut off by Ayano pressing her lips swiftly to his. Shintaro cursed when he felt himself blush fiercely – they were _already together _for goodness' sake, why was he such an embarrassment?

Quickly, his eyes darted around for signs of Kenjirou. Good, they were still clear.

"Calm down." She demanded sternly when they broke apart, face flushed. Then her expression eased, "Let's start heading back."

Shintaro sighed, breathing deeply and moving to take off his coat saying: "… at least take my jacket."

Ayano smiled at him gratefully and wrapped it around herself, letting him reprimand her for her recklessness the whole way back to the inn. And to think, around a year ago he'd probably have left her to drown.

Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration but the point was still clear.

"Thank you, Shintaro…"

"Are you even listening to me, you idiot? You could've _died._"

"Yes, yes…"

People really did change.

She had never anticipated the amount of care Shintaro had inside him either – she had seen it from the start but it was more immense than she had ever imagined – he simply didn't place enough value on it or on the world as a whole.

Because even Ayano didn't expect him to then help her dry off and warm up to this extent. He had silently gathered towels to wipe her down with, intent on making sure she was okay. He had helped her blow-dry her hair after she showered and ordered (read: aggressively requested over the hotel phone) hot chocolate for her, and was just the most strong yet vulnerable Shintaro she had ever had the chance to witness.

She was touched, so much, that he was being so sweet that she could have burst into tears right then and there.

"You okay?" He asked softly, distant. His face was as red as her scarf hanging up on the towel rack behind him, and Ayano thought it was precious.

"Mhm. Thank you, thank you so much…" She crawled into bed, seeing as he wouldn't be letting her go outside again anytime soon. She probably needed the extra sleep anyway – she had barely slept at all last night after she woke up once and realised she was cuddling her boyfriend. Mostly because she couldn't escape the hold, too.

The trade-off was seeing his sleeping face though, which was of course, very adorable and very worth it.

"N-no problem." His reply was gruff, but she could see the relief in his eyes when he pulled the blanket over her and sat on the edge of the bed.

Not having any of that, Ayano pulled him towards her and under the blankets with her – despite his feeble protests – and lay her head on his shoulder while he fumbled hopelessly.

"Thank you, Shintaro."

"Stop thanking me, I didn't do that much."

"Thank you."

"Stop that."

"Thank you."

He pressed her face into the pillow. "Stop it." But his voice was full of shy affection, and well-disguised relief.

Ayano then wondered if he truly, for a second, thought that she had died.

And she briefly wondered what he would do if she did.

She snuggled into his chest, feeling the intense heat radiating off of him. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

"Thank you…"

* * *

><p>"Takane?" Haruka's voice rang out behind her as they trekked back out into the snow, armed with bread rolls and baguettes. The waiting staff had apparently taken a liking to Haruka and were completely fine with the duo hauling out bags and bags of bread – much to Takane's chagrin.<p>

To help dampen her mood even further, there was one waitress that spent around 10 minutes flirting with the dense Haruka which she was forced to stand by and watch because her classmate was too friendly for his own good.

Well, she couldn't just leave him there to get chatted up, of course. So she endured.

That, and Takane was just generally in a bad mood that day (she didn't bother questioning it, the answer was obvious with the searing pain in her gut and her injured foot) and tried to brighten up but failed and now her mood was even worse than before.

Hey, 20 points for trying, right?

She was quick to reply. "Shut up."

"No, but…" Haruka continued through a mouthful of bread, oblivious to her irritable state. "But Takane, I think we're-"

"Shut up."

"Takane, are we lost?"

The girl in question grumbled, avoiding his eyes. "No. We're not lost. We're just a little ways off the main map."

"So we're lost?"

"We're not lost!"

Haruka stayed quiet, waiting. As expected, it only took a few moments for Takane to groan loudly, hanging her head in defeat. "Yeah, okay, we're lost."

Sensing her sudden escalation of stress, Haruka used his free hand to guide her face to look at him.

"Don't worry, Takane! We'll be fine!"

She tried to smile at him, "Haruka…"

"And it also just so happens that there is a shelter over there." He pointed out, waving a baguette in the general direction of a wooden shack. "We can think up a plan in there, in case the weather gets bad."

Takane nodded mutely, and freeing herself from him, she walked briskly over to the building and peered in: "I wonder why this is here…"

"For people like us?"

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Yeah. Idiots like us."

Once they had entered and placed their bags down, they moved to sit on the wooden benches beside each other. They didn't speak for a while, simply gathering their thoughts and enjoying the other's company, but after finishing another roll, Haruka spoke up,

"Can I hug you, Takane?"

She blinked slowly, "What?" _You're asking for permission now? You've done it countless times this week, and you never asked first. Huh, weird._

"A hug. You know, when people-"

"I know what a hug is!" Takane huffed, pigtails flying comically. "But why?"

Haruka's smile widened and he spoke as if the answer was obvious. "When a penguin is cold, they hug, right?"

"… are you a penguin?"

"Yes." He affirmed with a grin, "So can I hug you?"

"Do I look like a penguin to you, Mr. Penguin?" She deadpanned at his reply, but after he stared at her with those wide, innocent eyes she knew she was completely screwed over. "… fine. Come here."

Immediately inching closer, Haruka pulled Takane into his open coat, which he then closed around her so she was completely within his jacket. She would've turned to object, but his face was _right there _and she didn't want to take that risk.

"See, this isn't bad, is it Takane?"

"I guess not… but it's not because it's you, okay?"

_Yes it was, you massive adorable dork. _

He pulled her closer and Takane felt herself going redder by the second, she had never been held like this – and he was just so close, too close, but close in a good way. In a bad way though, because he could probably feel her insane heartbeat. Conflicting inner emotions! Takane tried to struggle but he only held on tighter.

She wondered if he was doing this on purpose – all of this on purpose – because she knew he was definitely not as dumb as he appeared (his test scores were always infinitely higher than hers even when he wasn't present in class).

He was still an idiot though, she mused, and unexpectedly he kissed her on the cheek to spur a reaction.

And a reaction he did get.

"W-what the hell are you doing?!" She covered her forehead with both hands, effectively hiding her face and practically screaming at him.

"Well, I just felt like kissing you." Haruka announced boldly, eyes shining with mirth. "But if I had done it properly, you would've hit me."

"Y-you-!"

"Oh, there you are. Haruka. Takane." Behind them, Kenjirou magically appeared, a stern shadow looming over them. Takane immediately shot out of Haruka's embrace, crossing her arms and leaning on the cabin wall with a tight frown.

"Hello Mr. Tateyama."

"Was I interrupting anything?"

"No." She snapped, and with a pointed look hushed Haruka before he could speak up.

Kenjirou raised an eyebrow, almost mockingly. It was shocking to think that anyone couldn't have read the atmosphere and known what was going on, but he prided himself in appearing at the worst of times.

If Takane wanted to make things difficult though, he wasn't going to push it. The girl was scary enough as it was. Now if only he could catch that suspicious kid Kisaragi with his precious angel Ayano…

"Is that so?"

Takane glared. "Nothing was going on."

The teacher struck a dramatic pose against the door, "I don't even get a 'thank you' for going to all the trouble to find you both?"

"You don't." Takane growled. "Maybe one day you'll be worthy of one, but not today."

"Takane, I'm hurt."

"Thank you, Mr. Tateyama!" Haruka finally chirped cheerfully. He had gathered all the bags of bread and resumed eating – typical Haruka.

"Bless you, Haruka." Kenjirou made his way outside, watching the two to make sure they followed. "At least someone notices my efforts."

"We'll notice your efforts when you actually put in effort…" Takane followed begrudgingly, hauling two of the bread bags with her. "Which is never."

Kenjirou grunted indignantly, taking a bag off Haruka to lighten his load. "I do try!"

Haruka only smiled weakly at them both, "Please stop arguing… we came to have fun together, didn't we?"

He was reaching his last straw himself – was this karma from playing off Takane's feelings for all those years? He just wanted to catch her, but she kept being moved.

Despite everything, he had trouble articulating the words though.

By force was definitely not an option.

This was the ultimate frustration he had ever had to face.

"I sure had fun last night." The teacher laughed, proudly marching forward and swinging his arms. Kenjirou seemed to fall in a daze after that, before he composed himself after a sudden realisation and started grumbling something along the lines of 'damn you Shintaro' and 'protect Ayano at all costs'.

Slowing so Haruka could catch up, Takane shot him an exasperated look and whispered, "I don't know how Ayano puts up with him."

Haruka shrugged. "They're a happy family, I guess?"

"Ugh, she's a godsend."

"Aha…" He laughed lightly, but ah. Again. He didn't want to be jealous of Ayano, but everyone was making it very hard. Takane was making everything really hard.

His urges to hold her, kiss her, love her were getting stronger and he didn't know how he was going to deal with them at this rate.

Maybe if he talked to Ayano about this, she would be able to help him.

Shintaro wouldn't be of any help, since he was just as enamoured by the red-scarf-wearing girl as Takane apparently was – only in the romantic sense. Which was cute, in all senses of the word, but unhelpful to Haruka's cause.

Envy was such an ugly feeling.

* * *

><p>Ayaka was worried. Kenjirou had gone out in search for his two students around an hour ago, and Shintaro and Ayano hadn't emerged from their room since early afternoon when the boy had told her about her daughter falling into the river. She knew they were all capable of looking after themselves, but as a mother, she supposed, it was simply natural instinct to worry.<p>

She knocked on the door to the pair's room lightly, and only seconds later, Shintaro opened it. When he saw it was her, he beckoned her in.

"Mrs. Tateyama. What's up?" His voice was lowered as he spoke, and he gestured towards a clump of blankets on the bed. "If you're looking for Ayano, she's still asleep."

"I told you, you can call me Ayaka." She smiled, gently making her way over to the mound on the bed and seating herself beside it. "And thank you for looking after her for me, Shintaro."

The other nodded awkwardly, shuffling his feet as he closed the door. "Yeah."

Ayaka hummed and petted her daughter's head of brown hair sticking out of the blanket cocoon. She seemed to mull over her words for a moment, before she started to speak directly to Shintaro. "… you know, I was a little wary of you at first, to be honest."

"Wary?"

She laughed softly, "Not anymore, of course. Not as much as Kenjirou, either. It's just that… when Ayano talked about you at home, she seemed to think of you as the world but all of us thought you were a bit of a jerk, actually."

"…" He contemplated this for a brief moment, "Well, that's how I was. To put it lightly."

"No, we were wrong." Ayaka gave him a thoughtful look. "It's just that her emotions seemed so one-sided and hopeless, but even Shuuya and Tsubomi couldn't convince her to find someone else. Kousuke of course, was just happy whenever Ayano was."

Shintaro nodded, finding some sort of fascination with the wall as he stared at it. Why was she telling him this?

By the way, white was such an interesting colour, wasn't it? So blank and smooth and white… Well, he kind of preferred black, but red was rising on that list. His soda addiction coupled with the dumb red hero talk by Ayano wasn't helping.

Not that he didn't like it, but he'd be the last to say it. He wasn't going to add more fuel to that fire.

He was steering well away from any more embarrassment if he could; not that it was possible, being Shintaro Kisaragi but he could dream.

Ayaka continued to speak, completely comfortable with getting this all off her chest. Shintaro listened intently, though his expression remained apathetic.

"She was fixated on you and only you, and I can see why. I'm sorry we ever doubted you." Tucking her daughter further into bed, she continued, "You're good for her. She's such a kind girl… but she can be a little too kind. She needs someone like you to balance it out. Not to offend you or anything, it's a compliment."

"Ayaka, I…" Shintaro seemed genuinely stunted; he had not expected Mama Tateyama to speak to him much during the trip – and especially not give such information so openly. Or approve of their relationship, since clearly her husband didn't. He figured he at least owed her this. "It's fine. I was – I'm not. Much different than I was."

"I can beg to differ."

"No, I'm not really any better of a person," He sighed. "I can admit that much. If you asked me, it would've been Ayano that's helping me change. I've always hated people, and in the beginning, she was no different."

He stopped abruptly, and Ayaka indicated for him to continue. Shintaro wasn't sure if he should tell her, but her calming aura not unlike her daughter's had the words tumbling from his mouth.

"But she was… she… saw me as someone beyond perfect grades. She showed me the world was worth living in… and I…"

He choked slightly, and Ayaka stood, walking over towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder as a gesture of comfort. Shintaro bit his lip before continuing,

"I'm – I was – suffering from severe depression." His gaze fell to the floor. "Without Ayano, surely someday I would've just… killed myself-"

Shintaro was more than a little surprised by the woman suddenly wrapping her arms around him and squishing him tightly. "Oh, Shintaro… it's alright, she loves you and we as her family love you so don't ever say words like that again."

He looked away. "I'm… sorry."

"Don't be." Ayaka shook her head, "Don't be in any way. I'm glad you're not keeping it all inside. You're changing, even if you don't see it."

"I'm not-"

"Shintaro…!" Without warning, Ayano joined their hug, either having just awoken or maybe having been awake all along; manoeuvring around the bed and desk to reach the boy. She had teary eyes, but her gorgeous smile still graced her face. "I love you, I love you, I love you-"

He sputtered, frozen where he was. "W-what are you saying in front of your mother?!"

"I love you, I love you-"

"S-stop that!"

Apparently his lover had no shame in declaring her everlasting love for him at any given time. Shintaro felt his face once again, heat up, and he was beginning to see why love was called a sickness. At this rate, his face would go permanently red – and honour Ayano's hero legacy, he supposed – but that was not healthy at all.

"Oh, Ayano." Ayaka only laughed, her expression relaxing. "I guess I'll just be waiting for the day you marry into our family, huh Shintaro?"

"W-WHAT?"

"Shintaro Tateyama!" The Tateyama pair cheered, while Shintaro pointed at them both accusingly.

"Excuse me, I'm _not _taking your surname!"

Ayaka winked. "But you're getting married? When's the wedding?"

"That's not what I said!"

Ayano seemed a little delirious after her nap, and began singing some incoherent song while her mother joined in.

Shintaro only facepalmed to hide the appreciative smile blooming on his face. _One day, one day…_

* * *

><p>Dinner was extravagant. Not one of them knew what they were going to have, but once all assembled back in the lobby, Kenjirou had announced that it would be spectacular. Ayaka had shared a knowing look with him and they had both struck a ridiculous pose at the front of the restaurant.<p>

Ayano applauded them happily though, prompting Haruka and Takane to do the same, but Shintaro was reluctant to even lift his hands. Ayano did the clapping for him as they walked in, despite Kenjirou's darkening look at their clasped hands, and they all sat around a long table with multiple embedded stoves.

"We ordered beforehand." Ayaka explained. "So just kick back and wait."

"This is way too much…" Takane mumbled, looking around the restaurant in awe. It was more like a banquet hall than a restaurant, but it was possible that they had reserved this room especially for their group. "I didn't come on this trip to be spoiled like this..."

Haruka tapped at the table. "This is so cool though! Makes me feel important."

"You are important!" Ayano chimed in enthusiastically. "Everyone's important."

"You in particular, are very important." Shintaro cut in smoothly, intercepting a whack from Ayano. Kenjirou's glare was enough of a threat after that.

The food arrived promptly in the form of large, boiling pots as the staff poured soup and various ingredients into the pots. They arranged an assortment of dishes alongside those, which Haruka started digging through, as well as Ayaka feeding a disgruntled Kenjirou, and Takane subtly moving away from the groovy looking mushrooms.

"How much did you order?"

Shintaro eyed all the food in disbelief, with Haruka or not, how were they going to finish all of this? Each individual person was given an entire fish on a plate, with some form of traditional side dish beside it and Shintaro thought even that was probably enough.

"A good amount." Ayaka smiled. "Eat up, all this stuff is good for you."

"What even is this?" Between her chopsticks, Takane held a blob of white covered in sauce.

"Squid and cuttlefish." Kenjirou answered through Ayaka stuffing one in his mouth. "The oval one is pretty much rice flour though."

Takane pulled a face, but bit into it anyway, colour rushing into her pale face as the heat surprised her.

Haruka seemed to have gone to another universe entirely, and sat eating slowly with stars in his eyes. Shintaro thought he saw the boy's soul leave his body, as he devoured the meal delicately, and graciously accepting any offerings Takane decided to add to his collection.

Ayano was having trouble with the rice, but she refused help, determined to serve it no matter what.

Shintaro inspected the odd noodle on his plate, before deeming it edible and eating it. It's not like random noodles didn't appear on occasion. It wasn't bad either.

He found himself sincerely smiling for once; everything felt so right. He hoped no-one noticed, because it was probably a terrible look – he was never fond of his own smiles (and his grinning looked even worse).

"Ah…! Whoops…"

Ayano was now blushing cutely by the stove, having accidentally spooned rice into a pot of noodles and now her parents were laughing at her.

"Good job, Ayano." Kenjirou chortled. "Getting creative, aren't you?"

Ayaka pet her daughter on the head. "You did well, young one."

Haruka, ever the optimist, piped up, "If you wanted to, you could turn that into porridge."

"Noodle porridge isn't on the menu, though." Takane commented bluntly, prodding at the drowning rice and hiding it under the froth. "If the staff come in, you eat it, okay?"

Shintaro made a note to compose a song about this moment that he could listen back to years later. Not the porridge part, just the happiness. All the happiness. He sneezed, his body seemingly having had enough of sentimental Shintaro to last a decade. He would agree.

Ayano was pressing a skewer at his mouth while he was in deep thought and when he noticed it, he jumped away, crashing into Haruka who crashed into the wall. Takane flipped out, crawling under the table to nurse the boy's throbbing head.

Haruka was really fine, but after successfully luring Takane to his side of the table, he kept a firm grip on her, making space for her to sit between him and Shintaro. Takane seemed flustered, and rightfully so, but Shintaro didn't pay enough attention to judge it since he was currently preoccupied.

"Oh, you don't want it?" Ayano seemed so sad, that he had to get back up instantly to reassure her it was okay.

"I do! You just uh, surprised me, is all."

"Now, now." Kenjirou spoke firmly, waving a finger at the two. "You're not feeding him, he can feed himself."

"Says you." Ayaka giggled, but steered clear of her husband's steely gaze, raising her hands in a gesture of surrender. "Hey now, I'm not going to take part in this argument."

Ayano was stubborn though, and opted for shoving a fish ball into Shintaro's mouth when her father wasn't looking instead. Unfortunately, Kenjirou caught her just as she put it in and she collected more fish balls to make a pyramid in her bowl. At both the males' expressions, she started laughing, carefully dropping one into her dad's bowl as well.

"Now everything is okay!" She declared, before she leaned over Shintaro to wave a big mushroom in Takane's face. The older girl shrieked, instantly clinging to Haruka, which sent them all into hysterics.

Kenjirou was left silently fuming, while Shintaro gave the man an uncertain smile, having swallowed the fish ball and was idly playing with the prawns on his plate.

"What can you do, you know?"

The teacher sighed, though it was more a show of melodramatic quality than actual disdain. "I still don't like you."

"That's awfully immature of you, Mr. Tateyama."

"You're not a bad kid though, Shintaro." He admitted, finally, though his posture was stiff and uneasy. "It's just that you're her first… and if I had it my way, she'd always be my little girl. Sometimes we have to accept these things though, isn't that right?"

"I understand." Shintaro nodded, no, he didn't understand. But he knew that one way or another, Kenjirou wasn't completely against their relationship – and that gave him hope. Wow, having these meaningful conversations with the Tateyamas really took a lot out of him. This family was intense.

"Still, I won't let you have her. She's not ready for a relationship yet. Not now, not ever."

Shintaro raised his eyebrows. "That just completely contradicts what you just-"

"Do not question me!" Kenjirou laughed loudly and humorously. Shintaro thought he resembled a witch for a split second, with his arms raised in the air like some superpowered anime character in those strange shows Momo liked to watch.

It was worth it though. Anything for Ayano was worth it.

Ayano seemed to sense the atmosphere as she sat back in place, watching Shintaro and her father with kind eyes, and eating her fish like no other would: simply picking it up whole and biting into it.

Haruka seemed to find enlightenment in her actions and talked animatedly, telling Ayano about the ways of the fish from the other side of the table. Somehow or another, Takane had ended up on his lap, also questioning Ayano's strange method of fish consumption.

Shintaro shrugged, and went on with his food. If she wanted to eat like that, then by all means, let the girl eat the way she wants. She was happy, he was happy. Everyone was happy.

There was a certain sense of peace and unity within them all as they ate together, chatting more as a family than just a group of people. It was nice. Different. He didn't think he'd ever had this experience with his own family - but then again, it was a little too late now.

Time seemed to slow for a single moment, before a soft thud against the floorboards was heard.

Immediately, everyone seemed to quieten and all their heads turned to the source; had she… fainted?

Shintaro felt an increasing sense of worry, as everyone dropped what they were doing to investigate, but hid it behind an indifferent face. He had to prepare himself to be the rational man, if there was any panic to foresee.

She lay there, unmoving, and her breathing was shallow and short. Her face was contorted in pain, and a sudden sense of fear overtook him.

"Ayaka…?"


End file.
